Zhou Rui jia de
周瑞家的
“The Twelve Palace Flowers”
Her Story
Lady Wang’s chief woman, one of the servants’ wives who came with her at marriage, and the one sent on errands that need judgement. In Chapter 6 she recognises Grannie Liu at the gate and walks her through to Wang Xifeng. In Chapter 7 she carries twelve palace flowers round the house, girl by girl; Daiyu, handed the last two, asks whether she is being sent what the others declined. Her daughter is married to the antiquarian Leng Zixing.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Full length in olive-green over rust, stiff embroidered collar, small cap. From her raised hand swings a red bundle on a beaded cord — conspicuously not a tray of palace flowers. Behind her, bare trunks and a wash of pink blossom. The face she turns aside is set, and not friendly.
The Calligraphy
周瑞家的 — the standard ledger formula for a servant’s wife: her husband’s name, the possessive 家的, and nothing of her own.
Connections
- Lady Wang 王夫人 — her mistress, whose household she came into at the marriage.
- Grannie Liu 刘姥姥 — whom she brings in from the gate in Chapter 6.
- Lin Daiyu 林黛玉 — receives the last two palace flowers from her, and says so.
- Leng Zixing 冷子兴 — the antiquarian who married her daughter.
Others of the same kind · servant's wife / senior serving-woman 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 · Jin Wenxiang xifu 金文翔媳妇 and 10 more
Named on these pages Zheng Hua jia de 郑华家的 · Wu Xing jia de 吴兴家的 · Laixi jia de 来喜家的 · Zhou Rui 周瑞 · He San 何三 · Leng Zixing 冷子兴
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
