Gāo È 高鶚 (courtesy name Láshǔ 蘭墅, also known as Yúnshì 雲士; c. 1758–c. 1814/1815) was a Qīng-dynasty official and man of letters from a Hànjūn bannerman (Hànjūn qírén 漢軍旗人) family. He passed the jìnshì 進士 examination in Qiánlóng 53 (1788) and served in various official posts including the Board of Revenue.
Gāo È is chiefly known for his role in completing and publishing Hónglóu Mèng 紅樓夢. Together with Chéng Wěiyuán 程偉元 (the printer and publisher), he produced the first printed 120-chapter edition of the novel in 1792 (Qiánlóng 57, the so-called Chéng-Jiǎ 程甲 edition, followed shortly by the Chéng-Yǐ 程乙 edition). The preface claims they assembled fragmentary manuscripts for the final 40 chapters; whether Gāo È composed, edited, or collated these chapters remains the most contested question in Hóngxué 紅學 scholarship.
CBDB id 87277 records his birth year as 1758 (乾隆 23), with the entry noting scholarly disagreement about the exact birth year (proposals ranging from Qiánlóng 3 to Qiánlóng 28) and death year (various sources give 1814 or 1815; see Zhang Shucai 張書才, “Gāo È shēngzú nián kǎoshí,” Wénxiàn 1989.4).
Kanripo works: KR4k0131 Hónglóu Mèng 紅樓夢 (final 40 chapters, attributed).