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Qin
Keqing
An
Ho, 1993, watercolor on silk mounted on rice paper using traditional
Chinese technique, 54" x 88"
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| Married
into the Ning branch of the Jia house, Qin Keqing is generally
known as Qin Shi (Lady Qin). She was adopted from an orphanage
and grew up to be an extremely attractive woman. Early in the
novel, she contracts an incurable disease and dies when she is
in her twenties. The mysterious manner in which she dies and the
excessive emotional reaction of her father-in-law to her death
tell a different story, however. On the basis of information provided
in the Main Register, the commentaries, and clues the author has
planted in the text, scholars have suggested that Qin Keqing had
actually hanged herself when the adultery she had committed with
her father-in-law was discovered. But in deference to Red Inkstone's
sympathy for her, the author had revised his treatment of her
death and entrusted her with two important tasks: 1. She offered
Baoyu her bedroom when he wanted to take a nap. It was there that
Baoyu had the dream in which he met the Goddess of Disillusionment,
looked at the Registers, and listened to the "Dream of Red Chamber"
Song-cycle. When Baoyu woke from this dream, he called the fairy
he had made love to in his dream "Keqing" without knowing that
it was Qinshi's childhood name. 2. When she died she appeared
in a dream to Wang Xifeng, warned her of the inevitable fall of
the Jia house, and outlined measures for Xifeng to take to protect
the Jias from irrecoverable ruin. |
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