Quick Answer: Who Is Shi Xiangyun?
Shi Xiangyun (史湘云, Shǐ Xiāngyún) is a young woman from the Shi family in Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦, Hónglóu Mèng). She belongs to the Twelve Beauties of Jinling (金陵十二钗, Jīnlíng Shí’èr Chāi). She is remembered for falling asleep among peonies and for the verse she composes with other women.[1][2][3][4][5]
- The peony episode appears in Chapter 62.[4]
- She contributes to the group snow poem in Chapter 50.[3]
- She exchanges lines with Lin Daiyu (林黛玉, Lín Dàiyù) at Mid-Autumn.[5]
The sleeping figure in the pictures is also one of the novel’s most active participants in shared verse.
Friends look for Xiangyun after a gathering and find her asleep among flowers. Later in the novel, two young women stay awake past a festival gathering to finish a poem. Both scenes give Xiangyun room to take part in the life of the garden at her own pace.
Her Place Among the Families
Xiangyun is a grandniece of Grandmother Jia through the older woman’s natal Shi family. She loses her parents in infancy and is raised by other relatives. Her association with the Jia household brings her into the social world of the Grand View Garden (大观园, Dàguān Yuán). The verse associated with her in Chapter 5 gives her early loss a place beside the descriptions of the other women’s lives.[1][2]
The Bench Among the Peonies
In Chapter 62, after drinking at the gathering, Xiangyun slips away. The others find her asleep on a stone bench among the peonies. Fallen petals are scattered over her. She has gathered some of the flowers in a cloth that serves as a pillow. The stone, cloth and petals let an illustrator suggest the whole story in one image.[4]
Two Poetry Scenes
In the Chapter 50 snow poem, participants add lines in turn. Xiangyun takes part in a group that also includes Jia Tanchun и Xiangling. Each contribution needs to fit the poem as it develops, which makes the scene a record of people listening to one another as well as composing.[3]
Chapter 76 puts Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu together for a Mid-Autumn exchange. Xiangyun offers a line about the shadow of a crane passing over a cold pond, and Daiyu answers it. Miaoyu hears the exchange and advises them against continuing in the same vein. The close scene has a different mood from the larger winter gathering.[5]
From a Garden Scene to a Printed Image
An 1879 edition of Gai Qi’s illustrated novel shows Xiangyun resting by the flowers. The print gathers the stone bench, cloth pillow and petals into a still image. Those details make it possible to identify a particular chapter instead of reading the illustration simply as a portrait.[6]
FAQs About Shi Xiangyun
Which chapter shows Shi Xiangyun among the peonies?
Chapter 62 contains the scene on the stone bench.[4]
Who is her partner in the Mid-Autumn poem?
She exchanges lines with Lin Daiyu in Chapter 76.[5]
What is her relationship to Grandmother Jia?
She is Grandmother Jia’s grandniece on the Shi side of the family.[2]
Источники
[1] Dream of the Red Chamber. Chapter 5
[2] Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau. Shi Xiangyun asleep among the peonies
[3] Dream of the Red Chamber. Chapter 50
[4] Dream of the Red Chamber. Chapter 62
[5] Dream of the Red Chamber. Chapter 76
[6] Sichuan Online. An 1879 edition of Gai Qi’s illustrated Dream of the Red Chamber