Hupo
琥珀
“Trusted With Other People's Words”
Her Story
One of Grandmother Jia’s senior maids, in the set of jewel-names that serve the matriarch’s rooms alongside Yuanyang and Zhenzhu — the girl who later goes to Baoyu and becomes Xiren. The novel keeps Hupo in the second rank. She is at the matriarch’s elbow at the large gatherings, and she is who gets sent when something has to be said in another courtyard. No arc, no crisis, no departure scene. Her whole existence in the book is being trusted with other people’s words.
In Xiang Li's Hands
A maid in a black jacket over a green cloud-patterned robe with a salmon sash, half-smiling out at us, holding a loose spray of yellow chrysanthemums nearly as wide as her shoulders. She is named for amber; the painting puts the amber into the flowers and dresses her in green.
The Calligraphy
琥珀, the given name alone at the right — a name assigned from a jewel by the household, and the inscription treats it as the only one she has.
Connections
- Grandmother Jia 贾母 — her mistress, whose messages she carries.
- Yuanyang 鸳鸯 — head maid of the same apartments, the rank above hers.
- Feicui 翡翠 — fellow maid of the matriarch’s rooms, paired with her by the jewel-names.
Others of the same kind · maid – Grandmother Jia's apartments Yuanyang 鸳鸯 · Feicui 翡翠 · Boli 玻璃 · Zhenzhu 珍珠 · Yingwu 鹦鹉 · Yingge 鹦哥 · Cailuan 彩鸾 · Xiuluan 绣鸾 · Xiufeng 绣凤 · Wenguan 文官
Named on these pages Feicui 翡翠
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
