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Lin
Daiyu
An
Ho, 1993, watercolor on silk mounted on rice paper using traditional
Chinese technique,
54" x 88"
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maternal first cousin to Dream of the Red Chamber hero
Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu lost both her parents and lived with his
family in the Rong Mansion as a poor relation. As the Crimson
Pearl Plant incarnate she has followed Baoyu's avatar the Divine
Stone Page from the Land of Disillusionment to earth to repay
a debt of gratitude she owed him with tears. As such, she shares
with Baoyu a special affinity that is rooted in the promise of
a union of wood and stone. The yu (jade) in her name is also the
same character as the yu in Baoyu's. Physically frail and given
to melancholy, she eventually falls victim to consumption. But
her sensitivity and emotional intensity also empowers her to excel
in poetry making. Her very lack of material fortune and family
backing, however, makes her an undesirable match for Baoyu. Initially
jealous of Xue Baochai in the beginning, she nevertheless becomes
her fast friend after Baoyu declares his love for her. She is
the only one close to Baoyu who does not pressure him to study
for the civil service examinations and seek a career in government.
She is also the only one who sees fit to instruct a maid in the
art of poetry making. All available textual evidence indicates
that she dies broken-hearted in the end without consummating her
love with Baoyu in marriage. |
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