Xueqin Cao

Cao Xueqin (c. 1715–1763) was a Chinese novelist of the Qing dynasty, author of The Dream of the Red Chamber, also known as The Story of the Stone, which is generally regarded as the greatest Chinese novel. Born into a wealthy family that had served the Manchu emperors as bondservants and textile commissioners in Nanjing, he saw its fortunes collapse in a purge during his youth and spent his later years in poverty near Beijing, painting and writing. The novel circulated in manuscript during his lifetime and was completed by other hands after his death. The novel draws on his own family's history.