Jinchuan
金钏
“The Well”
Her Story
Lady Wang’s senior maid. In Chapter 30 Baoyu finds her beside his mother’s couch during a nap and they exchange a few teasing words; Lady Wang, not asleep, strikes her and turns her out of the house. Jinchuan goes home in disgrace and throws herself down a well. The news reaches the household in Chapter 32 — Lady Wang sends money to her mother, and Baochai offers her own new clothes for the shroud. A joke, a slap, a well.
In Xiang Li's Hands
The most violent sheet in this group. Head thrown back so the throat is exposed, face turned up, hair streaming out behind, a robe of black and swirling blue with a red sash flying loose. Beneath her feet a grey-green wash and nothing else. She is not standing.
The Calligraphy
Inscribed 金钏儿, the given name with the household’s familiar 儿 — the way she was spoken to in the room she was thrown out of.
Connections
- Lady Wang 王夫人 — her mistress, who slaps her and dismisses her.
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — whose teasing costs her the place and the life.
- Yuchuan 玉钏 — her younger sister, who stays on in the same rooms afterwards.
Others of the same kind · maid – Wang Xifeng and Lady Wang Ping'er 平儿 · Feng'er 丰儿 · Shanjie 善姐 · Caiming 彩明 · Yuchuan 玉钏 · Caiyun 彩云 · Caixia 彩霞 · Xiaoxia 小霞
Named on these pages Yuchuan 玉钏 · Keren 可人
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
