Xueqin Cao

Xueqin Cao was a Chinese novelist and poet who lived in the Qing dynasty. Sources give his dates differently: the facts we hold place his birth in Nanjing, with 1724 given as the birth year in one record and 1710 in the description, and his death in 1763 or 1765. These dates are disputed, so they should be read with care. He came from a family that had once enjoyed wealth and high standing, and it is generally believed that its fortunes declined sharply during his youth. He is known for one great work, a long novel that he worked on for years and left unfinished at his death. It circulated in handwritten copies before it was printed in 1791 with a completed ending added by other hands. Many readers see the novel as drawing on his own family's rise and fall, though this remains a matter of scholarly debate. Cao Xueqin is regarded as one of the finest writers in the Chinese language, and his book is counted among the four great classical novels of China.