Fu Qiufang
傅秋芳
“Admired Unseen”
Her Story
Sister of Fu Shi 傅试, a former protégé of Jia Zheng who trades on the connection. In Chapter 35 two of the Fu household’s serving women call on Baoyu, and the narrative pauses to explain why he receives them at all: he has heard that Fu Qiufang is beautiful and accomplished, and admires her without ever having seen her. She is twenty-three and still unmarried — her brother has held out for a rich match and priced her out of the market. She never appears.
In Xiang Li's Hands
A full turn: white outer robe, red under-gown, both sleeves swung wide, face back over the shoulder. Behind her the paper is worked edge to edge in wet grey and green — no room, no object. A woman no one in the novel sees, painted with nothing to see her in.
The Calligraphy
The inscription 傅秋芳 gives surname and given name in full, the formal address of a stranger — which is what she remains.
Connections
- Fu Shi 傅试 — her elder brother, who kept her unmarried holding out for a rich match.
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — admires her by reputation in Chapter 35 and never meets her.
- Jia Zheng 贾政 — her brother’s patron, and the tie that brings the Fu household to the Jia gate.
Others of the same kind · official / noble / royal Qin Zhong 秦钟 · Jia Yucun 贾雨村 · Bei Jing Wang 北静王 · Leng Zixing 冷子兴 · Zhang Rugui 张如圭 · Menzi 门子 · Xiping Junwang 西平郡王 · Nan'an Taifei 南安太妃 · Zhangshiguan 长史官 · Feng Ziying 冯紫英 · Sun Shaozu 孙绍祖 · Yun Guang 云光 · Fu Shi 傅试 · Li Yanei 李衙内 and 9 more
Named on these pages Fu Shi 傅试
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
