Why was 'Dream of the Red Chamber' called an ancient encyclopedia and not 'Water Margins' or 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'?

The reason why 'Dream of the Red Chamber' was called 'Dream of the Red Chamber' was because it was a novel about the decline of China's feudal society. This novel takes the story of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai and other main characters as the main line. Through the description of Jia Baoyu's family and the entire feudal society, it reflects the rich and colorful human nature and social changes. The novel was prefixed with "Story of the Stone" because the stone element involved in the novel was an important symbol in the novel. The name "Dream of the Red Chamber" was also full of poetic meaning in the novel, implying that the profound meaning and grand scale of the historical era depicted in the novel had very high artistic and cultural value.

Both the Water Margins and Dream of the Red Chamber were considered one of the Four Great Classics. The Water Margins was a novel that described the uprising led by Song Jiang and others at the end of the Song Dynasty, while the Dream of the Red Chamber was a novel that described the life of a noble family in the Qing Dynasty and the rise and fall of the family, with the emotional entanglements of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and others as the main thread. These two novels have very high literary value and cultural content, and are regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels.

The reason why 'Dream of the Red Chamber' was hailed as a great encyclopedia was because it contained a large amount of knowledge about society, culture, history, philosophy, art, literature, and other aspects. Moreover, this knowledge had to be very comprehensive and in-depth. In 'Dream of the Red Chamber', the author Cao Xueqin described the rise and fall of a feudal dynasty and the distortion of human nature through exquisite descriptions and in-depth analysis. He not only described the various customs, systems, and cultures of the Qing Dynasty, but also the politics, economy, military, education, and technology of the time. In addition, he also showed the kindness, distortion and evil of human nature through the description of the characters and the construction of the plot, reflecting the various problems and contradictions of the society at that time. "Dream of the Red Chamber" also involved knowledge about philosophy, religion, literature, art, and other aspects. Cao Xueqin, the author, had a great understanding of both Chinese traditional culture and Western culture. He incorporated many philosophical and literary ideas into his novel, such as "men and women are different","true feelings and false feelings","human nature is good", etc., reflecting the values and aesthetics of the society at that time. At the same time, the various descriptions and characters in "Dream of the Red Chamber" also reflected the development of literature and art at that time and the trend of aesthetics. To sum up,"Dream of the Red Chamber" is a very comprehensive, in-depth, rich in thought and literary value of the novel. It is known as a great encyclopedia because it contains a large number of social, cultural, historical, philosophical, artistic, literary and other aspects of knowledge. Moreover, this knowledge must be very comprehensive and in-depth, which has an important impact on the literature, culture, and thought of the time and later generations.

The reason why Dream of the Red Chamber was the pinnacle of ancient Chinese novels was as follows: The achievement of Dream of the Red Chamber lies not only in the quality of the novel itself but also in its influence on the entire Chinese literature and culture. It was the first novel in the history of Chinese literature with the theme of "wealth" and "marriage". It was also the first novel in the history of Chinese novels to fully display the life, thoughts, morality and values of the feudal society. With meticulous descriptions, profound thoughts and unique artistic techniques, it revealed the various drawbacks of feudal society and the complexity of human nature, which became an important milestone in the history of Chinese culture. 2. The narrative art of Dream of the Red Chamber was ingenious. The author Cao Xueqin used a rich narrative and symbolic technique to connect the characters and events in the novel to construct an illusory and complex virtual world. At the same time, the author also revealed the hypocrisy and cruelty of the feudal society through different perspectives and conversations of different characters. The language of Dream of the Red Chamber was beautiful, delicate, and subtle. It could deeply express the inner world and emotional changes of the characters and became a classic in the history of Chinese literature. The success of Dream of the Red Chamber also benefited from its wide readership and widespread circulation. It could be adapted, created, and spread continuously for a hundred years, becoming one of the important heritages and classics of Chinese culture, and also a classic in the history of Chinese literature.

There was a certain difference in the gender of the main characters described in Dream of the Red Chamber and Water Margins. Dream of the Red Chamber mainly described the lives and emotions of women, including the stories of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and others. It reflected the family relationships and human nature of feudal society. On the other hand, Water Margins mainly described the stories of men, including the stories of Song Jiang, Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen, and other Liangshan heroes, reflecting the ancient peasant uprising. Therefore, Dream of the Red Chamber could be said to be a work with women as the main characters, while Water Margins had men as the main characters.

The title of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' contained a profound meaning. The four words " Dream of the Red Chamber " in the title of the book were formed by the words " red " and " treasure "." Red " referred to Jia Baoyu's family, the bloodline of the Jia family, and the family culture." Treasure " referred to the people and things around Jia Baoyu, implying the decline of the Jia family and the decline of the family. And the arrangement of the four words "Dream of the Red Chamber" also implied that the rise and fall of the Jia family was a typical family history. 'Dream of the Red Chamber' was a comprehensive cultural encyclopedia. The novel used the lives of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and others as the main line to show all aspects of China's feudal society, including palace politics, family ethics, literature and art, lifestyle, and so on. The novel also involved history, geography, religion, philosophy and many other fields of knowledge, which had a very high encyclopedia value. At the same time, the complexity of the plot, the delicate description of many characters, and the rich emotions were also important reasons why it became a cultural masterpiece. As a classic literary work, Dream of the Red Chamber not only showed the richness of Chinese traditional culture, but also had a profound impact on Chinese culture. It is regarded as a masterpiece in the history of Chinese literature, an encyclopedia of Chinese traditional culture, and a treasure in the treasure house of world literature.

In Water Margins, Song Jiang led an uprising army that eventually defeated the imperial army and established the Liangshanbo regime, becoming one of the most famous peasant uprisings in Chinese history. In Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu were the children of Jia Baoyu's father, Jia Zheng, and Lin Daiyu's mother, Xue Baochai. They experienced many twists and turns in their growth and eventually became husband and wife. They also experienced a series of political struggles and changes in the family. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, as the founder of the Shu Han Dynasty, defeated Cao Cao's forces and established the Shu Han regime through constant struggle. He also befriended many famous generals and strategists, such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and others, becoming one of the famous leaders in Chinese history.