Zhang Rugui
张如圭
“The Man Who Brought the News”
His Story
A former colleague of Jia Yucun, cashiered from office as Yucun was. At the opening of Chapter 3 the two meet by chance and Zhang passes on what he has heard: the court has ordered dismissed officials reinstated. That one piece of gossip sets everything after it moving. Yucun asks Lin Ruhai for help, leaves with a letter to Jia Zheng, and is back in post inside the chapter. Zhang is not heard from again.
In Xiang Li's Hands
He is caught mid-sentence — mouth open, beard lifted, one arm flung far out over an unfurled sheet of paper, sleeve trailing behind it. Bare winter branches behind him, otherwise empty ground. She paints him as the act of telling: a man who is entirely his own news.
The Calligraphy
The sheet gives the full name 张如圭, plain and unqualified, with no office attached — which at this moment is exactly right, since he holds none.
Connections
- Jia Yucun 贾雨村 — fellow cashiered official, and the man he brings the reinstatement news to.
- Lin Ruhai 林如海 — whom Yucun asks for a recommendation once he hears it.
- Jia Zheng 贾政 — receives that letter and finds Yucun his post.
Others of the same kind · official / noble / royal Qin Zhong 秦钟 · Jia Yucun 贾雨村 · Bei Jing Wang 北静王 · Leng Zixing 冷子兴 · Menzi 门子 · Xiping Junwang 西平郡王 · Nan'an Taifei 南安太妃 · Zhangshiguan 长史官 · Feng Ziying 冯紫英 · Sun Shaozu 孙绍祖 · Yun Guang 云光 · Fu Shi 傅试 · Fu Qiufang 傅秋芳 · Li Yanei 李衙内 and 9 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
