Jia Yingchun is a character in the novel Dream of the Red Chamber. Wikidata's Chinese label and the Chinese Wikipedia article title are both Jia Yingchun, and it is her name in the book, so the heading stays the same. Her father is Jia She, the elder master of the Rongguo house. Wikidata describes her as a character of the novel and a daughter of Jia She, and the setting is the dynasty of the novel.[1][2]
Position and character
According to the Chinese Wikipedia article, she is a daughter of Jia She by a concubine, a half-sister of Jia Lian and an older cousin of Jia Baoyu. In the Grand View Garden she lives in the Zhuijin Tower on Ziling Isle, so her alias in the Begonia Poetry Club is Lingzhou. She is gentle and kind and also timid and weak, and is nicknamed Wooden Second. The article says the manuscripts differ on her birth: the Jiaxu copy says she was born to Jia She's former wife, the Russian copy to Jia She's wife, the Gengchen copy to Jia Zheng's former wife, the Jimao copy says she is Jia She's daughter raised by Jia Zheng as his own, and the Qixu copy says she was born to Jia She's concubine. Liu Xinwu holds that all these descriptions correspond to real-life models, but that the Jiaxu text fits the story best. The article also quotes what Lady Xing says to Yingchun in chapter 73 of the Qixu copy and infers from it that her mother was Jia She's concubine.[2]
End and thought
The article says that Jia She later gave her in marriage to Sun Shaozu, the wolf of Zhongshan, to settle a debt, and that she died after abuse and humiliation, as told in chapter 109. It also treats her as one of the figures in the book who represent Daoist thought. In chapter 73, whenever a dispute arises she takes up the Taishang Ganying pian and reads it, leaving the commotion behind. It argues that she did not see the gap between plain Daoist truth and feudal society and only borrowed the idea of non-action, so that once the Grand View Garden, a symbol of an ideal world, was damaged, that thinking became the fuse of her tragedy.[2]
Verse, song and maids
The article reproduces her fate verse, which says that the husband is a wolf of Zhongshan who is arrogant once he has his way, and that this willow-like girl from a golden chamber goes to the yellow millet dream within a year. It also lists the song Happy Enemies from the Dream of the Red Chamber suite, which calls Sun Shaozu a heartless beast and laments that her fair spirit drifted off in a year. Her lantern riddle has the abacus as its answer. Her maids are Siqi, Xiuju and Lian'er. The article contrasts Siqi's firm temper with Yingchun's weakness: when the Grand View Garden was searched, a keepsake and a note from her cousin Pan You'an were found among Siqi's things, she was driven out of the garden and later killed herself by striking a wall.[2]