Cailuan
彩鸾
“One of a Matched Pair”
Her Story
A junior maid in Grandmother Jia’s apartments. The novel names her once, in a crowd of attendants, and never again. Her name belongs to a set — 彩鸾, 绣鸾, 绣凤, painted phoenix and embroidered phoenix — made on a pattern the way a household names a matched set of anything. What the book records of her is that she was in the room.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Standing, eyes down, one hand lifted at her chest in the middle of no action at all. Pale green robe over a dark skirt printed with round curled medallions — the nearest the sheet comes to the 鸾 of her name, which is otherwise not drawn. Bare paper all round.
The Calligraphy
彩鸾, top right, two characters of a decorative issued name — nothing to place her but the pattern she shares with 绣鸾 and 绣凤.
Connections
- Jia Mu 贾母 — the matriarch of whose apartments she is one of the junior maids.
- Xiuluan 绣鸾 — the maid the novel keeps her paired with.
- Xiufeng 绣凤 — third name on the same pattern.
Others of the same kind · maid – Grandmother Jia's apartments Yuanyang 鸳鸯 · Hupo 琥珀 · Feicui 翡翠 · Boli 玻璃 · Zhenzhu 珍珠 · Yingwu 鹦鹉 · Yingge 鹦哥 · Xiuluan 绣鸾 · Xiufeng 绣凤 · Wenguan 文官
Named on these pages Xiuluan 绣鸾 · Xiufeng 绣凤
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
