Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, September 3rd - In the world-famous masterpiece "Dream of the Red Chamber", the protagonist Jia Baoyu owns a jade named "Tongling Jade" which is as important to him as his "lifeline". Chi Cheng, the director of the Nanjing Rainflower Stone Research Institute, recently proposed that this "Tongling Jade" might be a rain flower stone.
Chi Cheng believed that Cao Xueqin lived in Nanjing during his adolescence until he left at the age of 13 due to the confiscation of the Cao family's property. The abundant production of rain flower stones in Nanjing should have had an influence on Cao Xueqin.
Chi Cheng said that Cao Xueqin's father, Cao Yin, once wrote a seven-character regulated verse with the title "Morning Rise at River Pavilion Facing Jinshan Mountain". In the poem, there are lines saying "From whom shall I seek the stunning verses, Gathering stones also changes one's countenance." When Cao Yin was writing poetry and found it hard to find stunningly brilliant verses...