Wang Ertiao
Wang Ertiao 王尔调 — El Casamentero. Un caballero literario del círculo de Jia Zheng, y un jugador de ajedrez en su mesa.
王尔调
“The Go-Between”
His Story
A literary gentleman of Jia Zheng’s circle, and a chess player at his table. His personal name is 作梅, which sounds exactly like 做媒, to act as match-maker — and that is the one errand the novel gives him. He proposes a match for Baoyu with the daughter of a family named Zhang. The Jias look into the household, and nothing comes of it.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Eyes lowered, mouth closed, thin grey beard — the quietest man in this group. Off-white robe with maroon facings, a jade ring on red cord at the sash. At his side, something square and grey flecked with pink: a fan, or a mounted picture. The go-between painted as a scholar.
The Calligraphy
王尔调 at the upper right — the name he is listed under, not the 作梅 that carries the joke.
Connections
- Jia Zheng 贾政 — whose study he attends and to whom he brings the proposal.
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — the match he proposes is for him.
- Cheng Rixing 程日兴 — fellow literary gentleman of the same studio.
Others of the same kind · literary gentleman (清客) / hanger-on Zhan Guang 詹光 · Shan Pinren 单聘仁 · Cheng Rixing 程日兴 · Hu Silai 胡斯来 · Ji Haogu 嵇好古 · Zhan Ziliang 詹子亮
Named on these pages Hu Silai 胡斯来
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
