Banhe
伴鹤
“The Crane That Is Not There”
His Story
Named in Chapter 24 with Yinquan, Saohua and Tiaoyun — the four boys of Baoyu’s outer study caught raiding a sparrow’s nest on the roof. He does nothing else in the book. The four names run as a set, each an elegant verb and object: leading the spring, sweeping flowers, lifting clouds, keeping the crane company. They are the names a literary household gives the boys who sweep its study.
In Xiang Li's Hands
No crane. She gives him a small brown sparrow at the end of a long tethering line and a blue parasol tipped back off one shoulder, face turned up, eyes shut, cheeks flushed. The line curves right across the sheet and holds the composition together.
The Calligraphy
伴鹤 sits low on the left in two characters without a surname, and the name promises a bird the painting withholds.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — master of the study he attends.
- Yinquan 引泉, Tiaoyun 挑云, Saohua 扫花 — the other three on the eaves in Chapter 24.
- Mingyan 茗烟 — the chief page, senior to all four.
Others of the same kind · page / boy servant Mingyan 茗烟 · Chuyao 锄药 · Saohong 扫红 · Saohua 扫花 · Moyu 墨雨 · Yinquan 引泉 · Tiaoyun 挑云 · Shuangrui 双瑞 · Shuangshou 双寿 · Li Gui 李贵 · Wang Rong 王荣 · Zhang Ruojin 张若锦 · Zhao Yihua 赵亦华 · Qian Qi 钱启 and 5 more
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
