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Preface: Chairman of University of China, recently invited 82-year-old Feng Qiyong, a renowned scholar on the studies ofA Dream of Red Mansions(Hong Lou Meng, also known as The Legend of Stone), one of the Four Famous Chinese Classics, to be principal of the university's Sinology College, which is also the first of its kind among domestic universities. Right after this announcement, Mr. Feng, who retired 10 years ago, became occupied with the future of the Sinology College, and his residence on the outskirts is no longer so quite!

"Fantastic speaking full of page, written with bitter tears, Everyone thinks the author mad, But who knows the spirit of it…"

A Dream of Red Mansions, an unmatched literary classic, since its inception has been attracting a great number of literature experts, many of whom have spent their whole life on researching the book. In this issue of "Culture People," we will talk about the great master and a renowned scholar on the study of A Dream of Red Mansion, one of the Four Famous Chinese Classics - Feng Qiyong.

Though Feng is well known as a master of A Dream of Red Mansion studies, it is hard to give him a proper title. Upon taking a close look at his life and experiences, one will find that he is also a poet, a painter, a calligrapher, an excellent photographer, an opera critic, and, even after the age of 60, an explorer. In short, he is a man of many talents who fits the ideal of a traditional Chinese man of literature.

  Brief Introduction to Feng Qiyong

Feng Qiyong was born in Wuxi of East China'sJiangsu Provincein 1924. When he was a fifth-grade primary student, the Anti-Japanese War broke out and his hometown fell into the hands of the enemies. Unable to attend school, Feng took up farming. Later he entered the middle school in the countryside, but was dropped out school again during the first year in senior middle school. After several years' of farming, he began to teach in a primary school. After the war, he began his studies in Sinology Institute in Wuxi and graduated in 1948. In April 1949, when Wuxi was liberated, he joined the army and became a teacher in Wuxi No.1 Middle School for Girls.

In August 1954, Feng was transferred to teach in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature ofRenmin University of China, rising from a lecturer to a professor and adviser of masters.