Dream of the Red Chamber

one of China's Four Great Classical Novels

Chinese novelist and poet (1710–1765)

thumb|300px|An 1889 printed depiction of Daguanyuan

Zhiyanzhai (脂硯齋/脂砚斋; pinyin: Zhī Yànzhāi, literally: "Rouge Inkstone Studio", sometimes translated as Red Inkstone or Rouge Inkstone) was the pseudonym of an early and mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. This person was a contemporary of the author Cao Xueqin who knew the author intimately enough to be regarded as the chief commentator of his work while it was still unpublished. Most early hand-copied manuscripts of the novel contain red or black-inked commentaries by a few unknown commentators, considered authoritative enough to be transcribed by