Wang Ziteng
王子腾
“The Prop That Fell”
His Story
Lady Wang’s and Aunt Xue’s elder brother, Wang Xifeng’s uncle, and the Wang family’s power in the capital — one of the four props holding the Jia house up. He is Commander of the Metropolitan Barracks at the novel’s opening, is promoted out to inspect the frontier, and rises to a provincial command. In Chapter 96, recalled to the capital to take a Grand Secretaryship, he falls ill on the road and dies before he arrives. The Jias never get the protection back.
In Xiang Li's Hands
A tall dark shape in a grey storm of wash: black official’s hat, an armoured mantle over the shoulders, pale green robe below. The face is barely given — the head reads as pattern, yellow and black, more mask than portrait — and a raised hand holds a red flare. He is painted as weather rather than as a man.
The Calligraphy
王子腾, surname and full given name in three characters down the right, in a heavier and more upright hand than the young women’s sheets receive — the name of an office-holder rather than a member of a household.
Connections
- Wang Furen 王夫人 — his younger sister, mistress of the Rongguo inner apartments.
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — his niece, whose standing in the Jia house rests partly on his rank.
- Wang Ren 王仁 — his nephew, who inherits the family name and none of its use.
Others of the same kind · Wang family Wang Ren 王仁
Named on these pages Wang Zi Teng Zhi Nv 王子腾之女
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
