Leaf 2 of the Red Chamber · 潇湘妃子 Xiaoxiang Consort

Lin Daiyu 林黛玉

In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the Main register (正冊) · nicknamed 潇湘妃子 “Xiaoxiang Consort”

The register opens by folding her into Baochai's page: the sharpest wit in the house, spending itself to pay off a debt contracted before she was born.

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Origin

Only child of Lin Ruhai and Jia Min; grand-niece of Grandmother Jia on her mother's side

Given

Reborn to repay, with a lifetime of tears, the dew the Divine Stone once gave her

Won

First, second and third place in one chrysanthemum set (ch. 38) — the club's only sweep

堪怜咏絮才， 玉带林中挂。

Alas for the wit that matched the willow-catkin — a jade belt hangs, and hangs, in the wood.

畫 A pair of withered trees, with a band of jade belt hanging from one of them.

The great deeds 大事記

1. ch. 3

   Leaving Home for Her Grandmother

   拋親入都

   Parting from her father, she comes to live with her grandmother; Baoyu greets her as someone he has met before and hurls his jade away when she has none.

2. ch. 23

   Reading the Western Chamber

   共讀西廂

   Reads The Romance of the Western Chamber with Baoyu under the blossoms, and lets its borrowed phrases tell her what she will not say.

3. ch. 27

   Burying the Flowers at the Mound

   葬花

   Gathers the fallen petals to the flower mound and chants her Dirge for Flowers; Baoyu hears it from the far side of the ridge and faints away.

4. ch. 38

   The Chrysanthemum Prizes Won

   詠菊奪魁

   Her three chrysanthemum poems are judged first, second and third, the one morning her talent is crowned in public before the whole club.

5. ch. 76

   The Cold Moon Buries a Poet

   凹晶館聯詩

   Answers Xiangyun's 'a cold pool, a crane's shadow' with 'the cold moon buries a poet's soul' — the linked line that appals the listening nun.

6. ch. 98

   Burning Her Own Poems

   魂歸離恨天

   Burns her poems and dies at the hour the bridal lamps are lit for another bride, her debt of tears paid out to the last drop.

In the same register & chapters 同冊

• 史湘云 Shi XiangyunOld Friend of the Cloud Pillow
• 薛宝钗 Xue BaochaiLady of Aralia
• 紫鹃 ZijuanDaiyu's Confidante
• 贾元春 Jia YuanchunPrefect of the Phoenix-Scroll Palace
• 贾探春 Jia TanchunGuest Beneath the Plantains
• 妙玉 MiaoyuOne Outside the Rails

The book itself: what happens, how long it is, which English version to read — The story · How long it is · Which translation · The lamp-oil night · The family tree · The first expulsion