Bao Taiyi
鲍太医
“A Surname and an Office”
His Story
He is a name on a list. The novel mentions him among the doctors summoned to the Jia houses and gives him nothing else — no scene, no prescription, no line of dialogue, not even a personal name. What survives is a surname and a job: Physician Bao. Painting all 413 characters means painting men like this, who exist for exactly as long as it takes to read them.
In Xiang Li's Hands
A blue wash fills the sheet, the only coloured ground in this group. He kneels in a black cloak over pale robes, bald, white-bearded, eyes shut, hands hidden. A small gilt censer smokes at his feet. A man named once, given a whole quiet interior.
The Calligraphy
Inscribed 鲍太医 — surname plus office, the only form the novel supplies, so this sheet is titled with a job where the other doctors are titled with names.
Connections
- Wang Jiren 王济仁 — the Jias’ standing physician; Bao is one of the passing names that appear around him.
- Zhang Youshi 张友士 — another physician brought in from outside, and the counter-case: one chapter of attention against a single clause.
Others of the same kind · doctor Zhang Youshi 张友士 · Wang Jiren 王济仁 · Hu Junrong 胡君荣
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
