# Xueqin Cao

## Biography

Cao Xueqin, a prominent Chinese novelist of the Qing dynasty, is celebrated as the author of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. Born into an affluent and influential Han Chinese family around 1715, his early life was marked by privilege. However, his family experienced a dramatic reversal of fortune in the 1720s when their assets were confiscated, plunging Cao into poverty. He spent much of his later life in hardship in the western suburbs of Beijing, often supporting himself by selling his paintings. Despite these struggles, Cao was also an accomplished poet and painter. He dedicated years to his masterpiece, which is considered semi-autobiographical, reflecting the rise and tragic decline of an illustrious family akin to his own. Cao Xueqin died in 1763 or 1764, leaving his great work largely unfinished, though it would posthumously achieve immense fame and become a cornerstone of Chinese literature.

## Books

- [Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I](https://samolit.com/books/96646)