Exhibition Hall of Cultural Relics Related to Cao Xueqin’s Ancestral Hometown

Exhibition Hall of Cultural Relics Related to Cao Xueqin’s Ancestral Hometown

Located on the first floor of the office building of the Cultural Relics Management Office at No. 26, West Street, Fengrun Town, Fengrun County, covering an area of 50 square meters. The exhibition displays over 300 photographs and more than 200 cultural relics, including important stone inscriptions related to Cao Xueqin’s ancestral hometown in Fengrun.

The exhibition displays over 300 photographs and more than 200 cultural relics, including important stone inscriptions related to Cao Xueqin’s ancestral hometown in Fengrun. This exhibition recreates from various perspectives the fact that the world-renowned literary giant Cao Xueqin’s ancestral hometown was in Fengrun. It serves as an important site for patriotic and hometown education.

Location

Office Building of the Cultural Relics Management Office, No. 26, West Street, Fengrun Town, Fengrun District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province

Cao Xueqin (c. 1715–c. 1763), China’s greatest novelist of the Qing Dynasty. His given name was Zhan, courtesy name Mengruan, and his art name was Xueqin; he also went by the names Qinpǔ and Qinxī. His ancestral home was in Liaoyang. His ancestors were originally Han Chinese but later became “Booi Aha” (bondservants) of the Manchu Plain White Banner, making him a member of the Banner system. He is the author of China’s classic novel *Dream of the Red Chamber*. Written during Cao Xueqin’s later years of hardship, the novel was originally titled *The Story of the Stone*, with about 80 chapters initially completed and circulated in manuscript form. In 1791, Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E published the first printed edition using movable type, expanding it to 120 chapters and renaming it *Dream of the Red Chamber*.

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