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Xiang Li 中国传统绘画

Dream of the Red Chamber / Street diviner

毛半仙

毛半仙:浏览李湘艺术网站的红楼梦资料。本页正文暂为英文,完整译文待补充。

毛半仙

“Half an Immortal”

His Story

半仙 — “half an immortal” — is not a name but a shopfront, the standard claim of a professional fortune-teller. He is brought in over Baoyu’s missing jade, casts a hexagram, and reads it out to a household that has already run out of practical ideas. The novel keeps such men at arm’s length: it records what they say without ever confirming it.

In Xiang Li's Hands

Seated on a rock, grinning wide enough to show his teeth, white beard to his waist, blue-trimmed cap. One hand holds a knotted staff, the other lifts a small gold disc between finger and thumb. Bare paper behind him. She paints the performance rather than the prophecy.

The Calligraphy

Inscribed 毛半仙 — a surname and a boast, a professional sign brushed in place of a personal name.

Connections

Others of the same kind · fortune-teller / diviner Liu Tiezui 刘铁嘴 · Shanziye 山子野

Named on these pages Liu Tiezui 刘铁嘴

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