Liu Tiezui
刘铁嘴
“Iron Mouth”
His Story
A character-analyst — a man who takes a written character from a customer, pulls it apart, and tells them what it means for their trouble. When Baoyu’s jade goes missing the household sends a character out to him, and his reading points the search toward the pawnshops. 铁嘴, “iron mouth”, is the trade’s standard boast: a mouth that never gets it wrong. The Jias are frightened enough to pay for it.
In Xiang Li's Hands
He stands in a black scholar’s gown, eyes closed, one hand at his beard, the other raising a pole with a white cloth banner: 测字, character analysis. The trade sign is the loudest thing on the sheet. An orange trouser leg and shoe show under the hem.
The Calligraphy
Inscribed 刘铁嘴 — surname plus trade nickname rather than a given name, which is precisely how a street diviner would be known, and advertised.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — the lost jade is what brings the household to his stall.
- Mao Banxian 毛半仙 — the other diviner consulted over the same disappearance.
Others of the same kind · fortune-teller / diviner Mao Banxian 毛半仙 · Shanziye 山子野
Named on these pages Mao Banxian 毛半仙
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
