Fang Chun
方椿
“The Man Who Supplies the Garden”
His Story
A flower-grower with a nursery outside the west gate. When Jia Yun is given the contract to plant the Grand View Garden’s trees and flowers, Fang Chun is the supplier at the far end of it — the man the household’s money reaches after it has passed through a steward, a kinsman and a commission. The Garden’s greenery has to be bought from somewhere. He is the somewhere, and the novel asks nothing else of him.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Bare forearms, a blue-grey work jacket, a purple headcloth. He holds two shallow blue bowls of narcissus up towards his face and looks down into them, smiling slightly. Wooden bucket and dipper at his feet, ink rocks behind. She paints the labour and leaves out the sale.
The Calligraphy
方椿, surname and personal name, the plain two characters a tradesman is entered under in an account book.
Connections
- Jia Yun 贾芸 — the young kinsman running the Garden’s planting commission, who buys from him.
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — who awards the commission that the purchase depends on.
Others of the same kind · outsider – townsfolk, tenants, tradespeople Liu Xianglian 柳湘莲 · Jiang Yuhan 蒋玉菡 · Liu Laolao 刘姥姥 · Wang Gou'er 王狗儿 · Liu Shi 刘氏 · Ban'er 板儿 · Qing'er 青儿 · Feng Yuan 冯渊 · Ni Er 倪二 · Bu Shiren 卜世仁 · Yinjie 银姐 · Shi Daizi 石呆子 · Yun'er 云儿 · Wu Liang 吴良 and 4 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
