Xi Yin Yu Shi as the Source Code: Discovering the Creative Blueprint for Dream of the Red Chamber and Founding the Discipline of Civilizational Generatics

Abstract

当前活跃预印本版本:V4。本版本取代此前所有版本(V1、V2、V3)。 永久概念 DOI:10.5281/zenodo.17780495。该 DOI 始终指向最新版本。请引用本版本;如需获取最新版本,请使用上述概念 DOI。 V4 新增内容: 新增第一部分:总纲与核心证据(共九大板块) 该部分构成完整、可独立核验的论证链,涵盖三十四维证据矩阵、耿昭忠钤印书画完整目录、版本与刊印分析、核心文本对应、巧合论概率证伪、终局排他性论证及最终结论。 耿昭忠钤印书画完整系统目录(134件) 《惜陰餘事》完整版本与刊印分析,包括仅印一部与三百年学术空白的论证 七组牙牌对应的扩展性文本证据 修订的「文明符号转码」与「文明生成学」理论框架 确立《惜陰餘事》世界级文物价值与「元本」定位 This is the current active preprint version (V4). It supersedes all earlier versions (V1, V2, and V3). The permanent concept DOI (10.5281/zenodo.17780495) always points to the latest version. Please cite this version. For the latest version, always use the concept DOI above. New in V4: Added Part One: General Outline and Core Evidence (nine sections)A self-contained argumentative chain across nine sections, including the thirty-four-dimension evidence matrix, the 134-work catalogue, version and printing analysis, core textual correspondences, probabilistic refutation of coincidence, and the final exclusionary defense. Complete systematic catalogue of Geng Zhaozhong's 134 attributed paintings and calligraphies Full version and printing analysis of Xi Yin Yu Shi, including the sole-surviving-copy argument and the three-hundred-year silence Expanded cross-textual evidence for the seven domino correspondences Revised theoretical framework on civilizational semiotic transcoding and Civilizational Generatics Establishes the world-class cultural relic value of Xi Yin Yu Shi and the concept of the “Yuanben” (source original) Abstract The creative mechanism of Dream of the Red Chamber has remained a core enigma in the history of Chinese literature for nearly three centuries. Through a cumulative argument combining textual criticism and internal textual evidence, this study discovers and systematically demonstrates for the first time that Xi Yin Yu Shi, authored by the early Qing connoisseur Geng Zhaozhong (1640–1686), is in fact the long-lost core source text and creative blueprint of Dream of the Red Chamber. Geng Zhaozhong's sole surviving work had never been the subject of academic study for over three hundred years. This paper fills that scholarly void. As the first systematic study of this text, it reveals its major civilizational-historical value. For the first time, this paper: establishes the systematic connection between Xi Yin Yu Shi and Chapter 40 of Dream of the Red Chamber; repositions Geng Zhaozhong as a preeminent connoisseur of painting and calligraphy in the early Qing period; demonstrates the unparalleled status of Xi Yin Yu Shi in the history of Chinese bibliography and the history of craftsmanship; reconstructs the transmission chain from Geng Zhaozhong through Zhu Yizun and Cao Yin to Cao Xueqin; and reveals that this text simultaneously satisfies the three conditions of "core source text of a world literary masterpiece, sole surviving copy in the world, and extant material artifact." This study constructs a full-scale chain of evidence spanning seven dimensions—textual fingerprint, systematic correspondence, rule internalization, logical paradox, macroscopic architecture, internal evidence from Zhiyanzhai's commentary, and historical silence—comprising eighteen independent items of evidence. At the micro level, it confirms the textual fingerprint of "日邊紅杏倚雲栽" and the graphological isomorphism of the character "牌"; at the meso level, it reveals the complete physical structural correspondence and mathematical homology of the seven sets of domino combinations, while demonstrating the full conformity of the poetic responses in the drinking game to the generative rules set forth in the Se Yang Ze Li of Xi Yin Yu Shi; at the macro level, it demonstrates the systematic transcoding from the "Twelve Golden Men" to the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling" as the core architectonic framework; at the logical level, the internal rule consensus and error diagnosis within the text constitute a narrative constraint that, under available material conditions, rules out the possibility of Cao Xueqin's independent invention. The study further pinpoints an extremely narrow "genesis site" (pp. 13–29) within Xi Yin Yu Shi, where decisive elements such as "Red Chamber," "Dream," the "Twelve Golden Men," the seven core character symbols, and the naming of the "Four Springs" co-occur with unprecedented density, forming an evidentiary matrix that exceeds any explanation attributable to chance. On this empirical foundation, this study achieves three theoretical advances. First, it proposes a "civilizational symbol transcoding" mechanism, demonstrating that canonical works can be generated through the pathway of "high-energy symbol system → recognition → internalization → transcoding." Second, it lays the foundation for "Civilizational Generatics" as a new research paradigm, shifting the trajectory of inquiry from static "hermeneutics" toward dynamic "generatics." Third, it repositions Xi Yin Yu Shi as an irreproducible, singular civilizational artifact in the history of human book civilization, whose "Principle–Form" philosophy, symbolic lexicon, and dynamic procedural repertoire of Shi together constitute an observable generative model of civilizational aesthetics. Accordingly, this study not only provides unprecedented interpretive possibilities for understanding the creative mechanism of Dream of the Red Chamber, but also reveals a long-obscured systematic and structured mode of creative thinking within Chinese civilization, thereby providing an indispensable historical paradigm and operational civilizational grammar for cultural computation in the age of artificial intelligence.