Redologist Zhou Ruchang dies at 95 Famous Redology scholar Zhou Ruchang (File Photo) Famous Redology scholar Zhou Ruchang died at home on ...

Redologist Zhou Ruchang dies at 95

Famous Redology scholar Zhou Ruchang (File Photo)

Famous Redology scholar Zhou Ruchang died at home on Thursday at 1:59 a.m. He was 95.

Zhou was born in north China's Tianjin in 1918. Since the foundation of People's Republic of China in 1949, Zhou was the first scholar to study "Dream of the Red Chamber," one of China's Four Great Classical Novels.

Zhou published dozens of works exclusively devoted to the "Dream of the Red Chamber." Most readers believed that the first 80 chapters of the novel were written by Cao Xueqin and that Gao E added 40 additional chapters to complete it. But Zhou believed that Cao had written the entire novel, although the additional chapters had been lost. Zhou published his research on the additional chapters of the book and presented a complete version of the real "Dream of the Red Chamber."