Yang Shi
杨氏
“The Widow Who Asked”
Her Story
A widow of the poor back-lane branch of the Jia clan, and mother of Jia Qin. In Chapter 23 she brings her son to Wang Xifeng and works on her until the boy is given charge of the young monks and nuns kept at the family’s temple — a post with money in it. She gets exactly what she came for, and the novel drops her there. What goes wrong at the temple afterwards is her son’s doing.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Strict profile, an older face, drab browns and slate blue with a little rust patterning at the skirt. Over both arms she carries a large pale folded garment, the heaviest thing on the sheet. A woman painted mid-errand, carrying someone else’s cloth.
The Calligraphy
The sheet reads 周氏 — surname plus 氏, the bare formula for a married woman with no name of her own — and follows the Zhi manuscripts rather than the 杨氏 of the roster.
Connections
- Jia Qin 贾芹 — her son, whose appointment she secures.
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — who grants it.
Others of the same kind · servant's wife / senior serving-woman Zhou Rui jia de 周瑞家的 · Lin Zhixiao jia de 林之孝家的 · Lai Da jia de 赖大家的 · Wang Shanbao jia de 王善保家的 · Wu Xindeng xifu 吴新登媳妇 · Wang'er xifu 旺儿媳妇 · Zhang Cai jia de 张材家的 · Zheng Hua jia de 郑华家的 · Wu Xing jia de 吴兴家的 · Laixi jia de 来喜家的 · Qin Xian jia de 秦显家的 · Bao Er jia de 鲍二家的 · Liu jia de 柳家的 · Shan Daniang 单大娘 and 10 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
