Hu Silai
胡斯来
“The Name That Says It”
His Story
Another of the literary gentlemen kept about Jia Zheng’s outer study. He has no scene, no line and no act of his own. What he has is his name: 胡斯来 sounds out 胡厮赖 — a shameless sponger. The novel’s roll of hangers-on is a row of such jokes, delivered deadpan and never explained, and here the joke is the whole character. Painting him at all is an act of completion.
In Xiang Li's Hands
An old man half-collapsed onto the paper, olive robe fallen open on a bare chest, a scarlet under-robe spreading beneath him like spilt colour. One hand grips a gnarled staff, the other crooks near his chin. He squints and smiles. Behind him, nothing at all.
The Calligraphy
胡斯来 in three plain characters at the right edge, the pun set down straight and left unglossed.
Connections
- Jia Zheng 贾政 — the master whose study feeds him.
- Cheng Rixing 程日兴 — fellow literary gentleman of the same household.
- Wang Ertiao 王尔调 — another of the same set, named by the same kind of joke.
Others of the same kind · literary gentleman (清客) / hanger-on Zhan Guang 詹光 · Shan Pinren 单聘仁 · Cheng Rixing 程日兴 · Wang Ertiao 王尔调 · Ji Haogu 嵇好古 · Zhan Ziliang 詹子亮
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
