His Story

A literary gentleman of Jia Zheng’s circle, and a chess player at his table. His personal name is 作梅, which sounds exactly like 做媒, to act as match-maker — and that is the one errand the novel gives him. He proposes a match for Baoyu with the daughter of a family named Zhang. The Jias look into the household, and nothing comes of it.

In Xiang Li's Hands

Eyes lowered, mouth closed, thin grey beard — the quietest man in this group. Off-white robe with maroon facings, a jade ring on red cord at the sash. At his side, something square and grey flecked with pink: a fan, or a mounted picture. The go-between painted as a scholar.

The Calligraphy

王尔调 at the upper right — the name he is listed under, not the 作梅 that carries the joke.

Connections

• Jia Zheng 贾政 — whose study he attends and to whom he brings the proposal.
• Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — the match he proposes is for him.
• Cheng Rixing 程日兴 — fellow literary gentleman of the same studio.

Others of the same kind · literary gentleman (清客) / hanger-onZhan Guang 詹光 · Shan Pinren 单聘仁 · Cheng Rixing 程日兴 · Hu Silai 胡斯来 · Ji Haogu 嵇好古 · Zhan Ziliang 詹子亮

Named on these pagesHu Silai 胡斯来

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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