Zhao Mama

Her Story

Jia Lian’s wet-nurse. In Chapter 16 she comes in while he and Xifeng are at their meal; Xifeng seats her, presses food and wine on her, and she asks for what she came for — places for her two sons, now that the Imperial Visitation is to be prepared. She remembers the Emperor’s southern progresses, and the Zhen family of Jiangnan who received him four times and poured out silver like sea-water.

In Xiang Li's Hands

White hair with one red flower, a blue robe covered in rust-coloured roundels like seal script. One palm flat at her chest, the other hand out, fingers curled, as if counting something off. Behind her, grey mountains and mist — the only landscape in this group.

The Calligraphy

The inscription 赵嬷嬷 gives surname and the nurse’s title, sitting low at the right in a heavier, more upright hand than the young women’s sheets receive.

Connections

• Jia Lian 贾琏 — the child she nursed, and the man she comes to ask.
• Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — seats her, feeds her, and promises the places.

Others of the same kind · nurse / wet-nurse Li Mama 李嬷嬷 · Wang Mama 王嬷嬷 · Song Mama 宋嬷嬷

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