Archive for category Chinese Literature
the Twelve Beauties of Jinling – Shi Xiangyun
Posted by sharon in Four Great Classical Novels on August 26, 2010
Shi Xiangyun is one of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling (refers to the twelve excellent ladies) in the book of The Dream of Red Mansions. Shi Xiangyun is a bold and uninhibited lady who is quite different from other beauties due to her outspokenness, optimism, naughty, etc.
Shi Xiangyun is the grandniece of Jia Mu and also the cousin of Jia Baoyu. She is brought up by her uncle and aunt as her parents died early. However, she is quite optimistic by nature and has a broad outlook on life. Therefore she is much favored by Jia Mu.
In the book, Shi Xiangyun’s laughters can be heard everywhere. It seems her life is full of hope and the enthusiasm. She almost gets on well with everyone around her.
She is a very talkative person and is good at composing poetry. One day, When she was drinking with her relatives, Shi was drunk and went somewhere else. When she was found, she was in a deep sleep on the blue flagstone bench in the garden. Shi has the personality of naturalism and individualism, the same personality that the celebrated scholars pursued in the Wei-Jin Dynasties (220~589). Obviously, she is quite different from the beauties of the literature at that time.
Later, Shi marries Wei Ruolan. As her husband dies soon after they got married, she becomes widowed at an early age. Her happy life also went away after that. From then on, she lives alone till death. Just as her name suggests her life finally like cloud wandering about. Such a wonderful woman also cannot escape her tragic fate at that time.





