Jingxu
净虚
“Three Thousand Taels”
Her Story
The old abbess of Water Moon Priory, where the Jia party rests during Qin Keqing’s funeral in Chapter 15. She uses the night to ask a favour: a girl of the Zhang family in Chang’an is promised to one man and wanted by another, and a word from the Jias would settle it. Wang Xifeng says she fears neither heaven nor hell, takes three thousand taels, and has the letter written. The betrothal is broken. The girl hangs herself and her intended drowns himself. Xifeng keeps the money.
In Xiang Li's Hands
An old woman, and the only one in this group given a face with age in it — creased eyes, a shrewd half-smile, a black cap. Black robe over blue, a long string of prayer beads, and in both hands a tray of pale rounded shapes. At Steamed Bread Priory that tray is a joke the painting makes without comment.
The Calligraphy
Brushed 静虚, the form the Cheng editions print, rather than the 净虚 of the manuscript line — the religious name only, with no title of office.
Connections
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — whom she persuades to break the Zhang betrothal for three thousand taels.
- Zhineng 智能 — the young novice of her house.
- Zhishan 智善 — her disciple.
Others of the same kind · nun / monk / Taoist Miaoyu 妙玉 · Zhishan 智善 · Zhineng 智能 · Zhitong 智通 · Yuanxin 圆信 · Da Liao 大了 · Sekong 色空 · Qinxiang 沁香 · Hexian 鹤仙 · Ma Daopo 马道婆 · Zhang Daoshi 张道士 · Wang Yitie 王一贴
Named on these pages Zhishan 智善 · Zhineng 智能 · Yun Guang 云光 · Li Yanei 李衙内 · Jin'ge 金哥
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
