Tiaoyun
挑云
“Lifting the Clouds”
His Story
Another of the four boys on the study roof in Chapter 24, named in the same breath as Yinquan, Saohua and Banhe while their seniors quarrel over a chessboard below. He has no line, no errand and no second appearance. What the novel gives him is a name — 挑云, “lifting the clouds” — and a place in a list of four boys spending an afternoon on the eaves after sparrows.
In Xiang Li's Hands
She takes the name at its word. The boy is airborne, arms flung up, one hand into a black smear of cloud at the top edge; ochre robe, red sash streaming behind, mouth open and laughing. A blue-green dragonfly hangs near the rocks below.
The Calligraphy
Brushed 挑雲 in full-form characters low on the right rather than in the usual upper corner — two characters, no surname, the working name and nothing else.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — master of the study whose roof he is climbing.
- Yinquan 引泉, Banhe 伴鹤, Saohua 扫花 — the other three named with him in Chapter 24.
- Mingyan 茗烟 — the chief page, at the chess game in the same scene.
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 · 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
Named on these pages Saohua 扫花
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
