He later specialized in Red Mansions studies at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, and produced 60 books.
Zhao, the Tianjin Normal University professor, said he had the greatest respect for Zhou's diligence and passion. Because Zhou in recent decades wasn't able to write and read, he dictated his last books, and his children recorded and read them to him for revision.
"When it came to A Dream of Red Mansions, he had such irrepressible energy that his children sometimes couldn't keep up with him," Zhao said.
"Because I'm cut off from the outer world (because of deafness and poor vision), I'm very good at inspecting my inner thoughts," Zhou told Chinese media in 2011.
Zhou was easy-going and humorous. "He treated people equally and with sincere affection," Zhao said, adding that Zhou's devotion to Red Mansion studies made him "pure" in personality and in social relations.
Zhou was also an accomplished calligrapher, "who was generous and never traded his artworks for money", as Zhao said.
Zhou Lunling said her father died peacefully surrounded by his family. She said the family will honor his wish of "leaving the world silently with no memorial services".
"I have lived a life with no regrets, though there were expectations I didn't live up to," were Zhou's last words.
Source: China Daily
Editor: Liu Fang
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