Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹) was a free-spirited individual with a fondness for the bottle. But he was also a visionary with a keen eye for the human condition, largely the result of his family’s fall from grace in the eyes of the ruling elites. He spent his last decade destitute, all the while writing a novel that he would never see finished, and never see published, one that long after his death would to go on to be one of the four great classics of Chinese literature.
曹雪芹（曹雪芹）是一个自由奔放的人，喜欢瓶子。 但他也是一个有远见的人，对人类状况有敏锐的眼光，这主要是因为他的家人在统治精英眼中失宠的结果。 在过去的十年里，他穷困潦倒，一直在写一部小说，他永远不会看到完成，也永远不会看到出版，在他去世很久之后，这部小说将继续成为中国文学四大经典之一。
Today, the Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufacturing Museum sits on the ruins of the Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufacturing Government Office. This was a temporary palace for the emperors during their southern tours, from the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1654 – 1722 CE) to that of Emperor Qianlong (1711 – 1799 CE).
今天，江宁帝国丝绸制造博物馆坐落在江宁帝国丝绸制造政府办公室的废墟上。 这是皇帝在南方旅行期间的临时宫殿，从康熙皇帝统治时期（公元1654年-1722年）到乾隆皇帝统治时期（公元1711年-1799年）。
It was the largest such structure in the country and was also the birthplace of Cao. This should have paved the way for a life of nobility, but it was to be short lived.
它是全国最大的此类建筑，也是曹的出生地。 这本应为高贵的生活铺平道路，但它是短暂的。
Cao’s grandfather, Cao Yin (曹寅), was, as a young boy, friends with the future emperor, Kangxi. His great grandfather was later appointed by the emperor to serve in Nanjing (then Jiangning) as Commissioner of Imperial Textiles, a post that was, upon his death, handed down to Cao Yin.
曹寅的祖父曹寅在年幼时与未来的皇帝康熙是朋友。 他的曾祖父后来被皇帝任命在南京（当时的江宁）担任帝国纺织专员，在他去世后，这个职位传给了曹寅。
By the time Cao eventually came along, the family was sufficiently powerful and respected to have hosted Kangxi during four of his visits to Nanjing. The young Cao spent his days reading, writing or playing chess with the damsels of his entourage, when he wasn’t painting or writing poetry, that is.
当曹最终到来时，这个家族足够强大和受人尊敬，在康熙四次访问南京期间接待了他。 年轻的曹整天都在阅读、写作或与随行人员的少女们下棋，当时他不画画或写诗。
It is surmised that he was referring to this kind of idilic life when he came up with the name for his work, “Dream of the Red Chamber” (红楼梦).
推测，当他为自己的作品想出名字“红楼梦”时，他指的是这种无道的生活。
It would have never come to be, however, were it not for the despotic nature of Kangxi’s son, the newly-ascended Emperor Yongzheng. In his crack down on corruption, the Cao family were removed from office for “mismanagement of funds”, according to “China: Five Thousand Years of History and Civilization”, published by the City University of Hong Kong.
然而，如果不是康熙的儿子、新登基的雍正皇帝的专制天性，它永远不会成为。 根据香港城市大学出版的《中国：五千年历史与文明》，曹家在打击腐败时因“资金管理不善”而被免职。
Purged to the outskirts of Beijing, Cao lived out his life largely in abject poverty, surviving with the help of friends and by selling off his paintings.
曹操被清洗到北京郊区，他一生大部分生活在赤贫中，在朋友的帮助下和出售他的画作中生存。
Writing the novel probably kept him sane. The precise observation of the social structures and divisions of 18th-century China predicted the collapse of feudalism society, criticising its politics, ethics, cruelty and inhumanity.
写小说可能让他保持理智。 對18世紀中國社會結構和分裂的精確觀察預測了封建社會的崩潰，批判了其政治、道德、殘酷和不人道。
The long lasting legacy and impact of “Dream of the Red Chamber” is apparent in that there is an entire academic field of study devoted exclusively to the novel; “Redology”. The field suggests that the family depicted in the novel was a fictional or “dream” version of Cao’s own.
《红楼梦》的长期遗产和影响显而易见，因为整个学术研究领域专门致力于小说；“红楼学”。 该领域表明，小说中描述的家庭是曹自己的虚构或“梦想”版本。
Located diagonally across from Nanjing’s 1912 on Changjiang Lu, the Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufacturing Museum makes for a fascinating afternoon. Among the permanent exhibitions spread over 8,700 square metres and six floors is one devoted to Cao’s epic work, in which can be experienced settings where many events in the novel happened.
江宁皇家丝绸制造博物馆位于长江路的南京1912斜对面，是一个迷人的下午。 在占地8700平方米、六层的常设展览中，有一个专门展示曹的史诗作品，其中可以体验小说中许多事件发生的环境。
For a look at the real thing, however, a high-speed train is required, to see the “Jiaxu manuscript”, dated to 1754 and on display in the Shanghai Museum. That there be not even one manuscript in Nanjing is not only a chronic oversight, but also an irony befitting the life story of its author.
然而，要了解真实的东西，需要乘坐高速列车才能看到可追溯到1754年并在上海博物馆展出的“嘉旭手稿”。 南京连一本手稿都没有，这不仅是一种长期的疏忽，也是与作者人生故事相称的讽刺。