Ban'er
板儿
“The Fruit Traded Away”
His Story
Grandson of Grannie Liu, son of the farmer Wang Gou’er, and five or six years old when she carries him to the Rong mansion in Chapter 6 to beg on the strength of a thin old connection to the Wang clan. He is too frightened to speak. On the second visit he is easier: in Chapter 41 he and Wang Xifeng’s small daughter swap fruit, his Buddha’s-hand citron for her pomelo. Eighty chapters later that swap is collected on — after the house falls, Qiaojie is married into his family.
In Xiang Li's Hands
A shaven head with three tufts knotted black, a red dot on the brow, an orange jacket riding up over a bare belly. He sits on a wet-ink rock and cups a round red fruit at his chin with both hands. Not the fingered citron he gave away — the round one he got.
The Calligraphy
板儿 alone, the milk-name with its diminutive 儿, the only name a farm child of five would be given.
Connections
- Grannie Liu 刘姥姥 — his grandmother, who takes him begging and comes back twice more.
- Jia Qiaojie 贾巧姐 — Wang Xifeng’s daughter; the fruit swap in Chapter 41, and the marriage at the end.
- Qing’er 青儿 — his sister.
Others of the same kind · outsider – townsfolk, tenants, tradespeople Liu Xianglian 柳湘莲 · Jiang Yuhan 蒋玉菡 · Liu Laolao 刘姥姥 · Wang Gou'er 王狗儿 · Liu Shi 刘氏 · Qing'er 青儿 · Feng Yuan 冯渊 · Ni Er 倪二 · Bu Shiren 卜世仁 · Yinjie 银姐 · Fang Chun 方椿 · Shi Daizi 石呆子 · Yun'er 云儿 · Wu Liang 吴良 and 4 more
Named on these pages Wang Gou'er 王狗儿 · Liu Shi 刘氏 · Qing'er 青儿
Dream of the Red Chamber
Xiang Li painted all 413 characters of the novel between 1975 and 1985, the first person to complete the entire cast. See the whole collection · Chinese Empresses
