Jin Cai
金彩
“The Father in Nanjing”
His Story
Yuanyang’s father, caretaker of the family’s houses in Nanjing. He never appears. He exists in the novel as an absence: when Jia She wants Yuanyang for a concubine in Chapter 46 and the household looks for someone with authority over her, her parents are hundreds of miles south and cannot be fetched. Her brother is sent instead. The one person who might have spoken for her is off the page.
In Xiang Li's Hands
For a man who never appears she paints extreme age — bald crown under a small black cap, white beard and loose white hair blown sideways, eyes closed, chest open at the collar. Grey wash robes pool on bare paper. A single small blue bowl sits by his feet.
The Calligraphy
The column at the upper left gives the full surname and given name, 金彩, above a cyclical date and the painter’s own signature and seal.
Connections
- Yuanyang 鸳鸯 — his daughter, Grandmother Jia’s maid, whom he is too far away to protect.
- Jin Wenxiang 金文翔 — his son, sent to press Yuanyang in his stead.
Others of the same kind · steward / manager Lai Da 赖大 · Lai Er 赖二 · Lai Sheng 赖升 · Lai Shangrong 赖尚荣 · Lai Mama 赖嬷嬷 · Lin Zhixiao 林之孝 · Zhou Rui 周瑞 · Dai Liang 戴良 · Yu Lu 俞禄 · Wang Xin 王信 · Laiwang 来旺 · Jin Wenxiang 金文翔 · Jiao Da 焦大 · Li Shi'er 李十儿 and 8 more
Named on these pages Jin Wenxiang 金文翔
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
