夏婆子
夏婆子：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。
夏婆子
“The Pointing Finger”
Her Story
One of the old women working in the Garden after Chapter 56 hands its plots and trees over to the staff to farm. Foster-mother to Ouguan, the girl who played the male leads in the household’s troupe, and grandmother to Xiaochan the errand-girl in Tanchun’s quarter. She is a mischief-maker among the Garden’s serving women: the novel keeps her at the edge of their quarrels, feeding them rather than fighting them.
In Xiang Li's Hands
In profile, bent forward, grey-blue robe, a lined face set in a frown. Her right arm drops and the index finger extends — pointing at something on the ground, or at someone. Roses fill the paper around her, in outline, barely coloured. The gesture is the picture: an old woman informing.
The Calligraphy
The inscription is 夏妈, “Nurse Xia,” the servants’ respectful form, in place of the narrative’s 夏婆子, “the Xia old woman.”
Connections
- Ouguan 藕官 — her foster-daughter, one of the twelve young actresses.
- Xiaochan 小蝉 — her granddaughter, an errand-girl in Tanchun’s rooms.
Others of the same kind · servant's wife / senior serving-woman Zhou Rui jia de 周瑞家的 · 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 and 10 more
Named on these pages Xiaochan 小蝉 · Aiguan 艾官
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
