Lou Shi
娄氏
“The Widow with One Son”
Her Story
A widow of a poor collateral branch of the Jia clan, and the mother of Jia Jun. The novel introduces her in Chapter 9 only to explain her son: her husband is dead, this is her only child, and she has pressed to get him into the clan school. Jia Jun is the smallest boy in the schoolroom brawl, the one who tries to hurl an inkstone across the room. In the closing chapters he goes with Jia Lan to sit the examinations.
In Xiang Li's Hands
She walks with her head down, in lavender and plum, a dark band across her brow. Her hands are not shown — both sleeves hang shut. The background is nothing but vertical streaks of wet blue and green, like rain seen through reeds. No object, no room, no second figure.
The Calligraphy
娄氏 — maiden surname plus 氏, the formula used for a married woman whose personal name is not recorded, which is exactly what the novel does with her.
Connections
- Jia Jun 贾菌 — her only son, whom she raised alone and put into the clan school.
- Jia Lan 贾兰 — clan cousin and schoolfellow of her son, with whom he sits the examinations.
- Jia Dairu 贾代儒 — master of the clan school her son attends.
Others of the same kind · Jia household – wives, concubines, in-laws Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 · Li Wan 李纨 · Qin Keqing 秦可卿 · Wang Furen 王夫人 · You Erjie 尤二姐 · You Sanjie 尤三姐 · Xue Baoqin 薛宝琴 · Xing Xiuyan 邢岫烟 · Li Wen 李纹 · Li Qi 李绮 · Xing Furen 邢夫人 · You Shi 尤氏 · Xue Yima 薛姨妈 · Zhao Yiniang 赵姨娘 and 11 more
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
