Cao Xueqin is the author of Dream of the Red Chamber.
Tips
culture
On its own 芹 is rarely used in everyday speech — Chinese speakers say 芹菜 (qíncài, 'celery'). The character carries literary prestige through Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹), the 18th-century author of Dream of the Red Chamber (《红楼梦》).
memory
芹 = 艹 (grass/plant radical) over 斤 (jīn 'axe', also phonetic hint) — a plant that the phonetic 斤 turns into 'qín'. Picture chopping celery stalks with a small axe.
艹 is the grass-top radical and marks 芹 as a vegetable or herb. Same radical heads 菜, 花, 草, 茶 and every other plant word. Chinese celery (芹菜) is one of the oldest cultivated 艹-family vegetables.
斤 gives the sound, drifting from jīn to qín. The "axe/catty" meaning has no semantic role. Same phonetic appears in 近 jìn (near), 欣 xīn (joyful), 听 tīng (listen) — a productive series.
