Wang Rong
王荣
“A Name on the Escort List”
His Story
One of the six men who make up Baoyu’s escort to the clan school in Chapter 9, listed behind Li Gui at their head. He is a name on that list and nothing more — no line, no errand, no reappearance. The list is there to give the scale of the establishment: one boy goes to school under six grown men, and the novel records their names because a house of that size really did carry them on its books.
In Xiang Li's Hands
She gives him more than the text does: a bearded man in a wide grey hat with white fur ear-flaps, a black robe with enormous sleeves over an orange sash. At his shoulder a tub of rolled scrolls; a large flat grey disc hangs on cords at his hip.
The Calligraphy
王荣 in the upper left, surname and given name together — the fuller address the grown escort men get, where the study boys are given one working name each.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — the boy he escorts to school.
- Li Gui 李贵 — head of the escort, named first on the same list.
- Zhang Ruojin 张若锦, Zhao Yihua 赵亦华 — named with him in that one sentence.
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 · 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
