小蝉
小蝉——途中做事。探春院子里的跑腿丫头,老妈妈夏妈的孙女,大观园下人中的一个。
小蝉
“Mid-Errand”
Her Story
An errand-girl in Tanchun’s quarter, and granddaughter of the old woman Mother Xia, one of the Garden’s under-servants. She belongs to the crowd of maids and old women whose small quarrels fill the Garden chapters after the grounds are handed over to the staff. The novel gives her a name and a grandmother and never stops long enough to look at her.
In Xiang Li's Hands
In profile, carrying a round gold jar in both hands, a green bundle at her hip, blue sash trailing behind her across the paper. The banana leaves behind are drawn in outline and left uncoloured. She is painted mid-errand, which is the only state the book ever finds her in.
The Calligraphy
The inscription is 蝉姐儿, not 小蝉 — “sister Chan”, the form the other servants would use to her face rather than the one the book uses behind her back.
Connections
- Mother Xia 夏婆子 — her grandmother, one of the old women working the Garden.
- Jia Tanchun 贾探春 — mistress of the quarter she runs errands for.
Others of the same kind · maid – Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Li Wan, Xiangyun Siqi 司棋 · Xiuju 绣橘 · Lianhua'r 莲花儿 · Shishu 侍书 · Cuimo 翠墨 · Ruhua 入画 · Caiping 彩屏 · Cai'er 彩儿 · Suyun 素云 · Biyue 碧月 · Cuilü 翠缕 · Baoqin 抱琴 · Xiaoque 小鹊 · Xiaojixiang'r 小吉祥儿 and 5 more
Named on these pages Xia Pozi 夏婆子
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
