1968, it was the cold winter, and the villagers of Zhangjiawan Village, Tong County, Beijing were in the battle to level the land in the snow and ice. There is a small river called Empress Xiao in Zhangjiawan Village. There are three mounds on the north bank of the river, namely Doujiafen, Majiafen and Caojiafen. While leveling the land, the villagers accidentally dug out a piece of inconspicuous green tombstone covered with soil from the Cao family’s tomb. The tombstone is 100 cm long, 40 cm wide and 15 cm thick. It also has a few words engraved on it: "Cao Gong is known as the tomb of the tomb of the Zhen", and there are also the words "Renwu" at the bottom left. In addition, the villagers also dug out a male skeleton.
Among the villagers present, there was a man named Li Jingzhu. This person is a local "local scholar". He unfairly knew about "Dream of Red Mansions" and Cao Xueqin , and also knew that Cao Xueqin's name was Cao Zhen. The villagers therefore focused on the male corpse, thinking that since they were a great ancient writer, they would be very rich, and they might have a jewel in their mouths. However, they found nothing after searching for it, and the "corpse" was quickly wiped out.
That night, Li Jingzhu moved the tombstone back to his home, carefully painted it with pencil and window paper, and saved it.
In 1992, the local government wanted to develop the tourism industry and collect stone tablets and other antiques everywhere, so Li Jingzhu donated the tombstone for free. As soon as the headstone was released, it immediately triggered a major earthquake in the Redology and archaeology. If this tombstone is proven to be true, then the mystery of Cao Xueqin's burial place that has troubled the Red Academic community for many years may be solved.
For a moment, archaeological experts and redologists had a fierce debate around this stone tablet, and formed two distinct views on pros and opposition.
opposition experts raised "six questions" about this stone tablet: First, the stone tablet is of poor quality, neither suitable for engraving, nor can it be invaded by the years; Second, the inscription is obviously dug randomly and not carefully engraved, and this situation will never happen to a formal tombstone; Third, the process is unreasonable, and the engraving of the stele should be first , , that is, the inscription is written directly on the stone tablet with cinnabar, and then engraved, but the stone tablet is directly engraved without passing through the ellips; Fourth, the format of the line pattern is incorrect. The tombstone only marks the stem and branch "Renwu", but lacks the imperial titles of the Qing Dynasty, such as "Qianlong Renwu" or " Jiaqing Renwu"; fifthly, the name and method are incorrect, and the tombstone calls the tomb owner "gong", indicating that it is a respectful title for the tomb owner by people outside the family. Since the tombstone is the symbol of the dead and is buried in the ancestral tomb, it is obviously unreasonable to call him "Kun". It is impossible for the people of this clan to call him "Kun Cao", and there is no name on the tombstone; sixth, Cao Xueqin lived in Beijing Xishan during his lifetime, and could not be buried in Zhangjiawan 80 kilometers away after his death. Moreover, no matter how poor Cao Xueqin is, she will not be buried directly in the ground. No matter what, she should have a thin-skinned coffin to bury the body.
and agree with the experts to take a positive attitude towards the authenticity of the stone tablet. They believe that the unearthed tombstone was during the "Cultural Revolution" period, and at that time there was no need for people to forge a Cao Xueqin's tombstone. Moreover, Cao Xueqin's death in Renwu is only the view of a small number of scholars. Most experts believe that Cao Xueqin died in Guiwei. If the stone tablet is forged, then the monument should be engraved with "Guiwei" to cater to the views of most people.
Regarding Cao Xueqin's "grass burial", they speculated that Cao Xueqin was not developed by writing "Dream of Red Mansions" in her later years. On the contrary, because of her family's decline, she was very poor and destitute, so she lived a hard life of "eating porridge and wine for the whole family." Because he owed too much debt, Cao Xueqin had to hide in the home of a former Cao Mansion servant in Zhangjiawan. Unexpectedly, Cao Xueqin finally died of illness in the servant's house. The servant had to bury him and carve such a stone tablet for him.
In addition, there are documents from Cao Xueqin's friends Duncheng and others to prove it. Duncheng once lamented in the article that his friends Cao Xueqin and others were no longer alive for several years, and they didn't know what they would talk about after they met underground.Cao Xueqin's old friends were all buried beside the Luhe in Tong County. Duncheng said that Cao Xueqin met them underground, indicating that Cao Xueqin was probably buried in Zhangjiawan by the Lu River.
Of course, there is no unified understanding of Cao Xueqin's burial place yet, and it is still a mystery to be solved.
