Douguan
豆官
“Popped Beans”
Her Story
The troupe’s little clown — 小花面 — and the smallest of the twelve. The household calls her 阿豆 and 炒豆子, popped beans, for the noise she makes. At the dissolution in Chapter 58 she goes to Xue Baoqin, who renames her 豆童. Chapter 62 is her scene: in the grass-fighting game the girls play in the Garden she scuffles with Xiangling and knocks her down, soiling the new pomegranate-red skirt that has to be quietly replaced afterwards.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Two sheets, neither a clown. In one she bends over a small pink flower cupped in both hands, wisteria brushed grey behind, a coral sash trailing. In the other she turns her back on a rush of grey-blue water and points off left. The comic line is nowhere.
The Calligraphy
Both sheets read 豆官, the stage name as the novel first gives it, without 阿豆, 炒豆子, or Baoqin’s 豆童.
Connections
- Xue Baoqin 薛宝琴 — the mistress she is given to, who renames her 豆童.
- Xiangling 香菱 — knocked into the dirt by her in the Chapter 62 grass-fight.
- Fangguan 芳官 — of the same company, and with her in the Garden games.
Others of the same kind · actress – Pear Tree Court troupe (梨香院十二官) Fangguan 芳官 · Ruiguan 蕊官 · Ouguan 藕官 · Kuiguan 葵官 · Aiguan 艾官 · Qieguan 茄官 · Lingguan 龄官 · Baoguan 宝官 · Yuguan 玉官 · Diguan 菂官
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
