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Xue
Baochai
An
Ho, 1993, watercolor on silk mounted on rice paper using traditional
Chinese technique,
54" x 88"
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| Daughter
of Dream of the Red Chamber hero Baoyu's maternal aunt
and Daiyu's arch rival for Baoyu's affection, she claims kinship
to two of the four most prominent families in the novel and is
thus from a socio-economic point of view a much more desirable
match than Lin Daiyu for Baoyu. The fact that the gold locket
she wears bears inscriptions similar to those on Baoyu's jade
pendant lends weight to the promise of an alliance of gold and
jade as opposed to a pledge of wood and stone that grounds Daiyu's
and Baoyu's love. In disposition and worldview the very opposite
of Daiyu, she is well liked by masters and servants alike in the
Jia household. Every bit as talented a poet as Daiyu, she advocates
needlework as a more fitting activity for women than the writing
of poetry and seizes every opportunity to urge Baoyu to prepare
for a government career by studying for the civil service examinations.
In contrast to the element of wood implicit in Daiyu's surname-Lin
means "forest," Xue sounds the same as the character xue for "snow,"
and hints at something cold and pure about Baochai's character
and personality. The Cold Fragrance Pills she takes to suppress
a "febrile humor," on the other hand, suggests otherwise- even
the scent her body emits turns out to be artificial. |
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