Suyun
素云
“Plain Cloud”
Her Story
One of the two maids of Li Wan, the young widow of Jia Zhu, who lives at Sweet-rice Village with her son and keeps to unornamented clothes and no jewellery. Suyun appears where her mistress appears — at the poetry club, at the Garden’s gatherings and meals — carrying, fetching, standing by. Her name, “plain cloud”, is paired with Biyue’s “jade moon” and pitched to a household that has given up colour.
In Xiang Li's Hands
She holds a great robe up by its shoulders and it fills two-thirds of the sheet: deep green worked with pale jade scrolls over apricot. Her own jacket is black and nearly ink alone; her face inclines, eyes down. The garment takes all the colour. She takes none.
The Calligraphy
素云 — the given name alone, high in the top right corner, well clear of the spread cloth below.
Connections
- Li Wan 李纨 — her mistress, the widowed daughter-in-law of the house.
- Biyue 碧月 — the other half of the pair, named to match her.
- Jia Lan 贾兰 — Li Wan’s son, the child of the household she serves.
Others of the same kind · maid – Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Li Wan, Xiangyun Siqi 司棋 · Xiuju 绣橘 · Lianhua'r 莲花儿 · Shishu 侍书 · Cuimo 翠墨 · Xiaochan 小蝉 · Ruhua 入画 · Caiping 彩屏 · Cai'er 彩儿 · Biyue 碧月 · Cuilü 翠缕 · Baoqin 抱琴 · Xiaoque 小鹊 · Xiaojixiang'r 小吉祥儿 and 5 more
Named on these pages Biyue 碧月
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
