Chapter 15 Cao Xueqin died in 1763

There is no question about the year of Cao's death.In Zhiyanzhai's Jiaxu commentary, there is a clear text: On Renwu New Year's Eve, the book was not completed, and Qin died of tears. Renwu is the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, and the New Year's Eve of that year is February 11, 1763.Although it is impossible to determine who wrote this batch, it is reliable; because this person has a very close relationship with the Cao family, the following is written like this: Yu Chang cried and cried, and the tears were still waiting to be used up. Every time I wanted to look for Qinggeng Peak and then asked Brother Shi, I was disappointed if I didn't meet the monk with a scarlet head. ...... Jiawu August tear pen.

The eighth month of Jiawu is September in 1774, which is eleven years after his death in the Gregorian calendar. But recently there has been a dissent.Some people think that Cao Xueqin died in Guiwei, the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong.The evidence lies in Xueqin's friend, a banner man named Dun Min, in his "Maozhai Shichao" there is a poem "Send to Cao Xueqin". Later, it was recognized that this poem was also written in the year of Guiwei.Since someone still gave him poems in the year of Guiwei, the Cao family must not die in Renwu.However, this statement is very false.Since this poem does not mention the year and month, it seems that it is wrongly edited at the end of the poem written in the year of Guiwei?This is also out of my speculation, let alone talk about him.Let me state the positive reasons.

First, there is nothing suspicious about the review of Zhizhizhi, that is, those who advocate the new theory do not completely deny it.Although Renwu thought that Guiwei's misremembering was wrong (how did he know that he had misremembered it?), but New Year's Eve said it was correct, so he compromised it as Guiwei's New Year's Eve, that is, February 1, 1764. The new version is like this written.Little do they know that advocating new theories requires overthrowing the old ones.If you piece together things and make a compromise for Guiwei New Year's Eve, this new theory will not stand.Because another piece of evidence is involved.

Second, another friend of Xueqin's is called Duncheng, and there is a poem about him, titled Jiashen Year (1765).Poetry goes: Forty years of Huafu Yaoming, a piece of mourning.The soul of the orphan should be expelled (Yi Zishang became ill due to sentimentality a few months ago), and the bride is wandering.Niu Gui's legacy mourns Li He, and Liu Ling is buried in a deer cart and lotus.The old man only has tears from the green mountains, and the wine is raw on the old ridge. The last two sentences are clearly the tone of going to the grave after a year. "Jiudong" is the old tomb. "Book of Rites" says that "the tomb of a friend has grass and does not cry."Let us compare the two statements.If Xueqin died on Renwu New Year's Eve and was buried in Guiwei, someone wrote a poem saying this in the Jiashen year, it would be formal, but if it was moved a year later, it would be chaotic.He had to be buried in Jiashen when he died in Guiwei on the "New Year's Thirty"; when he was buried in Jiashen, someone went to pay homage to him. Wouldn't it be a brand new tomb? Why do we say "Old Dong"?The problem is that I never saw Dun Cheng's poetry clearly, and only based on a poem of Dun Min's untitled date.This is completely unnecessary.

Therefore, I propose to use the "Zhi Commentary" to say that Cao Xueqin died in 1763;There will be no big mistakes in saying this, because the "Forty Years" in the poem should not be taken very seriously.