Qing'er
庆儿
“Sent, and Sent Again”
His Story
Jia Zhen’s page, kept for errands. He carries word between the Ning-guo house and wherever his master wants it carried, and that is the whole of him: a name attached to a function. The novel is exact about its servants’ names even when it has nothing for them to do. Qing’er is one of the names it keeps and almost never uses.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Purple cap, blue jacket under a heavy mauve outer robe shot through with black ink. He stands in profile with both hands raised, fingers loose, one near his mouth — mid-report. She gives him a moustache, which makes him one of the older pages, and nothing behind him at all.
The Calligraphy
The inscription 庆儿 gives the personal name with the diminutive 儿, the standard short form for a page and the only name the book records for him.
Connections
- Jia Zhen 贾珍 — his master, who sends him.
- Xi’er 喜儿 — fellow page of the Ning-guo house.
Others of the same kind · page / boy servant Mingyan 茗烟 · Chuyao 锄药 · Saohong 扫红 · Saohua 扫花 · Moyu 墨雨 · Yinquan 引泉 · Tiaoyun 挑云 · Banhe 伴鹤 · Shuangrui 双瑞 · Shuangshou 双寿 · Li Gui 李贵 · Wang Rong 王荣 · Zhang Ruojin 张若锦 · Zhao Yihua 赵亦华 and 5 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
