Cao Xueqin's "Book of Stones", why should it take jade as the main line?
Some researchers have pointed out that "Stone Record" obviously reflects the poet's "stubborn stone" complex, which is the result of the author's rebellious personality psychology due to the influence of mental personality psychology, experience encounters, and social trends.
Some also associate the "Shi Gong" in the book with Zhang Dai, a scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Zhang Dai (Chinese: 张岱; pinyin: Zhāngdai), also spelled Shi Gong (石公), tao'an (陶庵), was a famous Ming historian, essayist, and thinker. He came from a family of eunuchs, lived a good life in his early years, and in his later years he lived in the mountains, was poor and poor, and insisted on writing. Judging from Zhang Dai's life experience, his life in his youth is basically a copy of "Jia Baoyu"; and his life in old age is exactly the portrayal of the author of "Stone Record".
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Shen defined jade: "Jade, the beauty of stone." "Jade has unique properties and can be separated from stone. Cao Xueqin does not use stone, but jade as the main line, which is also the brand of the times. Cao Xueqin wrote this book in the Qianlong period, this period, the development of ancient Chinese jade reached its peak, Qianlong lived for 89 years, reigned for 60 years, he was fond of Hetian jade, love jade like a fool, he unified Xinjiang, strengthened the development and management of Hetian jade, so that a large number of jade into the court, and personally inquired about jade production, made a large number of exquisite jade. In this context, officials and eunuchs and literati do not value jade, and love jade has become the fashion of the times.
Cao Xueqin was born in a family of eunuchs, influenced by jade culture and the fashion of loving jade, and it is not difficult to understand that the whole book takes jade as the main line is a reflection of the characteristics of the times.