Ma Daopo
马道婆
“The Paper Figures”
Her Story
A Taoist wise-woman who lives off the great houses’ superstition and stands as Baoyu’s godmother in religion. In Chapter 25 she works on Aunt Zhao, who wants Baoyu and Xifeng out of the way so that Jia Huan may inherit, and comes away with silver and a written promise of more. Then she cuts paper figures and hides them. Baoyu and Xifeng go raving mad; coffins are being prepared before the scabby monk and the lame Taoist arrive and scour the jade clean.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Old, sharp, in profile and moving. A brown hood streams behind her like a banner over a blue-black robe patched in wet slabs. One hand is raised with something small and red pinched between the fingers; the other holds a written scrap. The sheet catches her at work.
The Calligraphy
马道婆 — a surname plus 道婆, “Taoist old woman,” a job description standing in for a name, which is the only thing anyone in the book calls her.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — her godson in religion, and the one she bewitches.
- Zhao Yiniang 赵姨娘 — pays her to do it, for Jia Huan’s sake.
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — struck down beside Baoyu by the same paper figures.
Others of the same kind · nun / monk / Taoist Miaoyu 妙玉 · Jingxu 净虚 · 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 · Zhang Daoshi 张道士 · Wang Yitie 王一贴
Named on these pages Wang Fei Gao Ming 王妃诰命
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
