Jia Tanchun

Jia Tanchun (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: 賈探春;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Jiǎ Tànchūn, rendered Quest Spring in

Chi-chen Wang Chi-chen Wang (; 1899–2001) was a Chinese-born American literary scholar and translator. He taught as a professor at Columbia University from 1929 until his retirement in 1965. Life and career Wang was born in Huantai County, Shandong provinc ...

's translation) is the younger half-sister of

Jia Baoyu Jia Baoyu (, and his surname is a homophone with "false" or "fictitious") is the principal character in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. Introduction The first chapter describes how one piece of stone was l ...

and a major character in the 18th century

novel ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

''. She is the daughter of

Jia Zheng ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

and his

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

, Concubine Zhao. Tanchun is a very clever and capable person, once temporarily managing all household and economical affairs of the Rongguo Mansion when

Wang Xifeng Wang Xifeng (, rendered Phoenix in Chi-chen Wang's translation) is one of the principal characters in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She came from one of the Four Great Families, the Wang (the other three ar ...

had a

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical lo ...

. Despite this achievement, however, the fact she is the daughter of a concubine is still such a burden that she often claims

Lady Wang Lady Wang (王夫人) is a character in the classic Chinese 18th century novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is the wife of Jia Zheng, and mother of Jia Zhu (dead at the start of the novel), Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu. She is the elder sis ...

, Baoyu's mother, as her own. Tanchun is also the "founder" of the White Crabapple Poetry Club, a private poetry club for the residents of Prospect Garden. Tanchun is the third of the quartet of "Springs". Her name translates roughly as "In quest for spring". As she is beautiful and has a "prickly" personality because of her forthright and outspoken nature, she earned the nickname of "Rose". Tanchun provides a sharp contrast to her elder cousin Jia Yingchun. While Tanchun is outspoken and capable, Yingchun is weak-willed and comparatively untalented. In the Cheng-Gao version, she eventually marries the son of a frontier official and lives her married life in a foreign country. Although her husband's family loves her, she still misses her family in the capital and therefore is a now tragic figure. While this may not accord to Cao's original intents completely, Redologists agree she will eventually marry to a far-off place and cease to have any link with the Jia Clan. Dream of the Red Chamber characters Fictional characters from Jiangsu Fictional nobility {{novel-char-stub