Jia Xing
贾荇
“A Name in the Line”
His Story
The novel gives him a position, not a story. At the New Year ancestral sacrifice in Chapter 53 the clansmen are ranked by generation, and Jia Xing is one of the men posted in a chain that runs from the inner ceremonial gate to the steps of the main hall, passing the offering dishes along hand to hand. He is named with Jia Zhi. That is the record. His name is a water plant — 荇菜, the floating heart of the Book of Songs.
In Xiang Li's Hands
She turns him away from us: a bent back in a purple-grey robe, the face lost in profile under a black cap, a fan of pale strokes over one shoulder, a blue tie and a red sash trailing to the floor. The whole ground is wet blue-green water-weed. She paints his name around him and leaves the man in shadow.
The Calligraphy
贾荇, low on the left — surname and personal name in full, the clan name doing all the work the character himself is never given a chance to do.
Connections
- Jia Zhi 贾芷 — the kinsman he is named beside in the Chapter 53 rite.
- Jia Jing 贾敬 — chief celebrant at that sacrifice, senior of the clan.
- Jia Zhen 贾珍 — master of the Ning house, where the ancestral hall stands.
Others of the same kind · Jia clan – collateral branches Jia Rui 贾瑞 · Jia Dairu 贾代儒 · Jia Qiong 贾琼 · Jia Chang 贾菖 · Jia Ling 贾菱 · Jia Ping 贾萍 · Jia Jun 贾菌 · Jia Yun 贾芸 · Jia Qin 贾芹 · Xiluan 喜鸾 · Sijie'r 四姐儿
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
