The Twelve Beauties of Jinling – Jia Qiaojie

　　 "When power is lost, do not speak of nobility; when the family is ruined,

　　 do not speak of kinship. By chance, she helped the Liu family, and by sheer luck, she met her benefactor .

　　　　　　　　　　　　 " — Prophecy.

　　Among the twelve beauties of Jinling, Qiao Jie was the youngest, of the same generation as Qin Keqing. She was delicate and sickly; in Chapter 21, she contracted smallpox; in Chapter 42, she encountered the Flower Goddess; and in Chapter 84, she suffered from convulsions. At the Qingxu Temple, Feng Jie urged Zhang Daoshi to change Qiao Jie's name-binding talisman. When Granny Liu visited the Rongguo Mansion for the second time, Qiao Jie was ill again. Wang Xifeng chatted with Granny Liu about how Qiao Jie had fallen ill again. Wang Xifeng said that the Madam had given her a piece of cake, which she ate in the wind and caught a chill. Granny Liu said that a child in a strange place, with clear eyes, must have seen some spirit or encountered a guest.

　　Finally, Granny Liu suggested, "Children raised by wealthy families are often too delicate and cannot withstand any hardship. Besides, this little one is too pampered and cannot bear it. In the future, you should spoil her less."

　　Wang Xifeng then said that the eldest daughter did not yet have a name, so she asked Granny Liu to name one, intending to "firstly, to borrow from your longevity, and secondly, since you are from the countryside, we are not afraid of upsetting you. After all, you are poor, and a name given by a poor person like you might be able to suppress her." Granny Liu heard that the eldest daughter's birthday was the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, so she named her Qiaojie, "This is called 'fighting poison with poison, and fire with fire.' In the future, if there are any unpleasant things, she will surely turn misfortune into good fortune and turn bad luck into good luck, all thanks to the word 'Qiao' (巧, meaning clever/skillful)."

　　The only significant appearance of Qiao Jie in the first eighty chapters is in the text about Granny Liu's visit to the Grand View Garden: "The eldest sister was playing with a big pomelo when she suddenly saw Ban'er holding a Buddha's hand and wanted the Buddha's hand too. The maid coaxed her to take it away, but the eldest sister couldn't wait and started crying. Everyone quickly gave the pomelo to Ban'er and coaxed Ban'er to give her the Buddha's hand. Ban'er had been playing with the Buddha's hand for half a day, and now he was eating some fruit with both hands. He suddenly saw that the pomelo was fragrant and round, and he found it even more fun to play with. He kicked it around like a ball and didn't want the Buddha's hand anymore." [1] This detail is still just a foil, showing that she was spoiled and hinting at her marriage with Ban'er.

　　Bao Yu called Qiao Jie Niu Niu and said, "I see this little girl, Da Niu Niu..." Is "Da Niu Niu" because, according to an earlier version of the Zhiyan Zhai novel, Qiao Jie is Feng Jie's eldest daughter? See Zhao Gang's "A Study of the Dream of the Red Chamber" on page 136. The sisters Qiaojie and Dajie'er were later merged into one person, so Gao E changed Dajie'er to Qiaojie in the last 40 chapters, resulting in Qiaojie's inconsistent age.

　　In Chapter 80, Qiaojie suffers from convulsions, and the old version also uses Qiaojie, and there are countless instances of "Qiaojie," so it is definitely not a mistake. In Chapter 101, she cries at night and is pinched by Li Ma, and all versions use "Dajie'er," making it the only one that slipped through the cracks after repeated revisions. The manuscript of Chapter 101 is not from the old version, but the old version must have always used "Dajie'er," otherwise where did Cheng's version's "Dajie'er" come from? After being pinched and crying loudly, Fengjie first loses her temper, then sighs: "If I die tomorrow, leaving this little brat behind, who knows what will happen! ... You all know what's good for you, just love my child." There is only one child, but the previous text uses Dajie'er, indicating that there is another eldest daughter, Qiaojie. There is a contradiction within a single page.

　　Chapter 80 assumes the original text referred to the eldest daughter as suffering from convulsions. Early versions of the Zhiyan Zhai manuscript were not widely circulated, so the copyist changed the name to Qiao Jie based on later versions. Chapter 101 is not from the old version, and therefore not copied by the same person; it only mentions "eldest daughter," and the entire copy remained unchanged. Even the Cheng Jia and Cheng Yi versions, after two rounds of proofreading, did not notice this and still used "eldest daughter." The following phrase, "leaving this little wretch behind," only mentions the second daughter, because she is too young and even more worried, but "you all know what's good for you, you only love my child," must mean "only love my two children," with the word "two" deleted by the Cheng version or the original copyist. This sudden shift within the same paragraph is highly unlikely. It's highly probable that the word "two" was originally absent.

Chapter 113 is from the old version. Feng Jie introduces Qiao Jie to Granny Liu, saying, "He's the one who gave you your name." The eldest daughter is renamed Qiao Jie by Granny Liu—the sequel is not based on the early Zhiyan Zhai manuscript and writes that Feng Jie has two daughters. "Big Sister" is merely a more polite form of address, like "Sister Shi the First," not "Sister Shi the Second."

　　The continuation of the story depicts Qiao Jie's sudden growth and subsequent shrinking, which is understandable. However, the original work combines Feng Jie's two daughters into one, creating a contradiction in Qiao Jie's age; she grows too slowly. The continuator simply followed this pattern, treating her as an infant and sometimes retaining the name of the eldest sister. Later, when she is sold to fulfill a prophecy, her age is calculated to be around ten years old (this is based on Zhou Ruchang's chronology, and the annotations at the end of the 80th chapter by Da Mou Shanmin). In Chapter 118, during the matchmaking, an explanation is added: "Qiao Jie is still a child after all." When

　　 the foreign vassal buys a concubine, two palace maids examine Qiao Jie, "looking her up and down, then getting up again, taking Qiao Jie's hand and looking her over again, sitting briefly before leaving." They only look at her hands, not her feet, because Qiao Jie's feet are not bound. In the first 80 chapters, Grandmother Jia looks at You Erjie's feet because she has bound feet.

The Jia edition does not emphasize that the characters in the book are Manchu. The change from "Niu Niu" to "Sister" in the Jia edition is suspected to be a mistake for "Sister's Child." The book explicitly states she is from Jinling, and most readers wouldn't expect her to be Manchu. Naturally, stories about Han people are more widely known, so the Jia edition's change is reasonable and in line with the original intent. The following text changes "Big Niu Niu" to "Big Sister," which should be "Big Sister's Child." The Jia edition has a strong Confucian feel; Qiao Jie is a maiden name, and even a cousin wouldn't call her that. In Chapter 118, Jia Zheng refers to Tan Chun as Tan Jie in a letter, which is Tan Jie's Child. That's his own father, so he didn't change it. Bao Yu still calls Qiao Jie "Big Sister's Child," because younger girls in the family are generally called "Big Sister," like Ximen Qing calling his daughter "Big Sister," or "My Big Sister," to distinguish her from other people's "Big Sister."

　　Qiao Jie's final fate is clearly explained in the judgment in Chapter 5 and the song "Leaving a Legacy of Blessings," which most readers can understand. It's because her mother treated Granny Liu kindly, sowing a seed of good karma, that Granny Liu's family saved her after the family's downfall. Her final fate was likely to marry Liu Laolao's grandson, Ban'er. Although they lived in a deserted village inn and had to spin every day to make a living, her former life of wealth and luxury was gone forever, making her a tragic beauty. However, compared to her eldest aunt, who spent most of her life in the deep palace and never experienced warmth; her second aunt, who was abused to death a year after her marriage; her third aunt, who was forced to marry into a barbarian land; her fourth aunt, who married young in despair; and her mother, who died tragically after being divorced by her father and abandoned by everyone, she was much luckier. Her marriage to Ban'er was foreshadowed very clearly in Chapter 41. The eldest sister—Qiao Jie, the name Liu Laolao later gave her—was originally playing with a large pomelo when she suddenly saw Ban'er holding a Buddha's Hand citron and wanted it. So, the adults later had the two children exchange the pomelo and the Buddha's Hand citron. Zhiyan Zhai left several comments, saying, "Childhood play, thus becoming a foreshadowing for a thousand miles." He also said, "The pomelo, which is similar to the fragrant round fruit of today, should be associated with fate; the Buddha's hand citron is the one that points out the way through confusion. Through a child's play, the entire plot is subtly revealed." The so-called Buddha's hand pointing out the way through confusion is the meaning mentioned in "Leaving a Legacy of Blessings": "Advising people to help the poor and needy, not to be like those greedy uncles and treacherous brothers who love money and forget their flesh and blood! It is all about addition and subtraction, and Heaven above."

　　The mystery of Qiao Jie's fate lies in who the "cruel uncle and treacherous brother" is. The cruel uncle is Feng Jie's brother Wang Ren, whose name sounds like "forgetting benevolence," so there should be no doubt about that. As for the treacherous brother? Gao E's continuation of the book made Jia Yun the treacherous brother, which is a huge mistake. In Chapter 24, when Jia Yun is mentioned, Zhiyan Zhai left several comments praising him for being "ambitious," "decisive," and "knowledgeable," saying that he is "a respectable filial son, and this person will surely achieve something after the Rong Mansion's downfall"—of course, referring to good and positive achievements. In my final lecture on Miaoyu, I mentioned the Jingzang edition, which has an exclusive commentary before this chapter: "In the chapter about the Drunken Vajra, Jia Yun's righteous visit to the nunnery is foreshadowed." I've already quoted Zhiyan Zhai's commentary on Xiao Hong comforting Baoyu at the Prison God Temple. Jia Yun and Xiao Hong later become husband and wife; they married through bold and free love. Feng Jie has been kind to both of them. After chapter 80, the author will write about them comforting and helping Feng Jie and Baoyu. As for Jia Yun's visit to the nunnery—which nunnery? Longcui Nunnery? Mantou Nunnery? What was his purpose? What was the effect? We don't know, but it was an act of righteousness, not a treacherous one.

　　In the latter half of the novel, because Qiaojie becomes Ban'er's wife, Granny Liu's family truly becomes relatives of the Jia family, and legitimate relatives at that. "When power fails, don't speak of nobility; when the family perishes, don't speak of kinship." In the face of "when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter," the infighting among the Jia family masters has escalated into fratricide. At that point, those willing to lend a helping hand are only the previously looked-down-upon minor figures, such as Jia Yun, Xiao Hong, and Qian Xue. Granny Liu, who was once the object of ridicule within the Jia family, not only witnesses to the Jia family's rise and fall, but also becomes someone who can truly contribute to saving the Jia family. Rescuing Qiaojie from being sold into prostitution requires money and pleading, which is no easy task for Granny Liu.

　　Then, taking a courtesan as a wife (Qiaojie has no other way out) puts her under immense pressure from feudal morality. According to the commentary, "The old woman possessed a heart of forbearance, hence the later incident of recruiting the eldest sister." In fact, this precisely demonstrates the moral character of a rural working woman during a critical moment, far surpassing that of the upper ruling class who outwardly upheld hypocritical feudal morality.

　　Jia Qiaojie, once a daughter of noble birth, finally transformed into a working woman "spinning" in a "deserted village inn," much like the second maidservant Baoyu saw on Qin Shi's funeral procession. In contrast to the parasitic, frivolous lives of the Twelve Beauties in the first half of the novel, Qiaojie embarked on a completely new path of self-reliance. Thus, the omen of "turning misfortune into good fortune" that Granny Liu used in naming Qiaojie was proven true.

　　Qiaojie's ending also embodies some of Cao Xueqin's own ideals; not everyone can become a monk like Baoyu or a nun like Xichun. How should the people in the Grand View Garden find a way out? Perhaps retiring to the countryside is a good ending. Cao Xueqin expressed his longing for rural life, as seen in the section where Baoyu learns about farm tools, and in Chapter 17, through Jia Zheng's words, "There is some truth to this. Although it is artificially constructed, seeing it now inevitably stirs up my desire to return to farming." However, Cao Xueqin vehemently disliked fake rural life.

　　In Chapter 17, while Jia Zheng expressed his fondness for Daoxiang Village, Baoyu felt that Daoxiang Village was incongruous, not a true rural life, and a kind of affectation. "Baoyu hurriedly replied, 'Master's teachings are indeed correct, but the ancients often spoke of the word "natural," I don't know what it means?' Everyone, seeing Baoyu's stubbornness, blamed him for his unchanging dullness. Now, seeing him ask about the word 'natural,' everyone hurriedly said, 'You understand everything else, why don't you know "natural"? "Natural" means something that exists naturally in the heavens, not something created by human effort.' Baoyu said, 'But here we have a farm, clearly constructed and contrived by human effort. There are no neighboring villages, no nearby towns, no mountains behind it, and water beside it.'" Without a source, without a towering temple, and without a bridge connecting to the market, it stands alone and isolated, seemingly not a grand sight. How can it compare to a place where nature's principles and spirit prevail, where even planting bamboo and drawing springs do not appear artificial? The ancients spoke of "a natural painting," precisely because they feared forcing a place to be a place that is not its own, or a mountain that is not its own; no matter how exquisite the effort, it will ultimately be unsuitable…” Baoyu believed that a true village should be like the one where Er Yatou or Qiao Jie would live in the future, poor yet content, possessing a natural beauty.