Gao E

Gao E (c. 1738–c. 1815), courtesy name Lanshu, was a Hanjun Bordered Yellow Banner man of the Qing dynasty whose ancestral home was Tieling. He passed the provincial examination in 1788 and the metropolitan examination in 1795, and rose to the post of supervising censor in the Ministry of Justice, combining literary talent with an official career. He is best known for collating and publishing the 120-chapter edition of Dream of the Red Chamber with Cheng Weiyuan in 1791 and for supplementing its final forty chapters, thereby allowing this classical masterpiece to circulate in complete form and exerting a profound influence on later reading and scholarship. He also wrote Lanshu Poetry Collection and Yanxiang Ci, and the extant catalogues contain many editions of Dream of the Red Chamber. Public information on his life is limited, and his main contribution lies in the collation and continuation of Dream of the Red Chamber.