Caiming
彩明
“The One Who Could Read”
Her Story
Xifeng cannot read. Caiming can, and that is the entire function: called in to read lists aloud and to set registers down. The clearest instance is Chapter 14, when Xifeng takes charge of the funeral at the Ning-guo house and has the roster of servants and duties written out. The novel treats Caiming as a literate young page of the household rather than an inner-chamber maid — kept for skill, not for intimacy.
In Xiang Li's Hands
A young woman in profile against grey-green pine boughs, dark wine jacket, pale blue and grey skirts, a red lacquer case held level in both hands. The sheet makes a girl of the clerk, and gives her the one thing the register-keeper needs: something in the hands to be read.
The Calligraphy
Inscribed 彩明 — the bare two characters, matching the 彩 series that runs through the household’s servant names and giving no hint of rank or sex.
Connections
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — the illiterate mistress whose registers and lists Caiming reads and writes.
- Ping’er 平儿 — the senior of Xifeng’s people, working the same accounts from the other side.
- Jia Zhen 贾珍 — master of the Ning-guo house, whose Chapter 14 funeral produces the roster.
Others of the same kind · maid – Wang Xifeng and Lady Wang Ping'er 平儿 · Feng'er 丰儿 · Shanjie 善姐 · Jinchuan 金钏 · Yuchuan 玉钏 · Caiyun 彩云 · Caixia 彩霞 · Xiaoxia 小霞
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
