Ping'er

Ping'er ( zh, t=平兒, p=Píng'ér; literally "Peace", and known as “Patience” in the Hawkes translation) is an important character in the 18th century Chinese 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 Wang Xifeng's chief maid and personal assistant/confidante, who follows her from the Wang family. Being the chief consultant of the household manager, Ping'er wields considerable power in the Jia household. Always kind and caring, she turns big

dilemma A dilemma ( grc-gre, δίλημμα "double proposition") is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The possibilities are termed the ''horns'' of the dilemma, a clichéd usage, but disti ...

s into little, solvable problems. She does so with grace and impartiality and is respected by most other servants. She is the cause of many fights between her mistress and master, partly because she is

Jia Lian ''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 ...

's unofficial concubine (seen as a

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

from the Wang family). Nevertheless, she is well loved by them, too, especially by Xifeng, who understands her value as a personal confidante. The novel portrays Ping'er as a pretty and sweet-natured girl, though clearly intelligent enough to know how to conduct herself through the politics of the family. In the Cheng-Gao ending, when Xifeng's daughter

Jia Qiaojie Jia Qiaojie ( zh, t=賈巧姐, p=Jiǎ Qiǎojiě) is a character in the 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is the only child of Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng. She remains a child throughout much of the novel. She is named after t ...

is left motherless after Xifeng's death, Ping'er arranges the plan for Granny Liu to hide Qiaojie in her village, and accompanied Qiaojie to Granny Liu's home. She eventually becomes

's wife. Dream of the Red Chamber characters Fictional maids {{novel-char-stub