Jia Chang
贾菖
“Keeper of the Fire Basin”
His Story
A young kinsman of the 草 generation, always named in the same breath as Jia Ling. He appears in the roll of clansmen called to Ningguo for Qin Keqing’s funeral in Chapter 13, and he has one job in the whole novel: at the New Year ancestral sacrifice in Chapter 53, while Jia Jing offers the dishes and Jia Rong stands as eldest grandson, 贾菖、贾菱展拜毯，守焚池 — Jia Chang and Jia Ling lay out the kneeling mats and tend the basin where the paper is burned.
In Xiang Li's Hands
He reads a long white scroll held open in both hands, head bent, in pink and white robes with lotus at the collar and hem. Behind him the whole sheet carries a text in pale grey — Pan Yue’s 《闲居赋》, the essay of a man who gave up office for a garden.
The Calligraphy
贾菖, brushed in dark ink at the right where the faint grey essay thins out, the personal name alone, its grass radical marking his generation.
Connections
- Jia Ling 贾菱 — his constant pair; the two are never named apart.
- Jia Jing 贾敬 — presides over the Chapter 53 rites at which the two of them serve.
- Jia Rong 贾蓉 — eldest grandson of the senior line, inside the threshold where they are not.
Others of the same kind · Jia clan – collateral branches Jia Rui 贾瑞 · Jia Dairu 贾代儒 · Jia Qiong 贾琼 · Jia Ling 贾菱 · Jia Ping 贾萍 · Jia Jun 贾菌 · Jia Yun 贾芸 · Jia Qin 贾芹 · Jia Xing 贾荇 · Xiluan 喜鸾 · Sijie'r 四姐儿
Named on these pages Jia Ling 贾菱
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
