Saohong
扫红
“Sweeping the Red”
His Story
One of the boys named in Baoyu’s train when he goes to the clan school. His one action in the novel is the Chapter 9 brawl, where he rushes the schoolroom with a horsewhip alongside Chuyao 锄药 while Moyu 墨雨 takes up a door-bar. Nothing else is told of him. His name means to sweep up the fallen red — the petals, not the blood.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Grey ink robe over a lavender skirt scattered with small gold roundels, a red sash at the waist. A bamboo pole rides across one shoulder, and red blossom drops into the top corner. The face is turned out and grinning. The name is being painted as literally as a name can be.
The Calligraphy
Inscribed 扫红, the two characters set well apart down the right edge, a work-name given as a small poetic instruction rather than as a name.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — his master, whose school procession he walks in.
- Mingyan 茗烟 — the chief page whose fight he joins.
- Moyu 墨雨 — the boy who comes through the schoolroom door beside him.
Others of the same kind · page / boy servant Mingyan 茗烟 · Chuyao 锄药 · 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 · Qian Qi 钱启 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
