Cuilü

Who is Cuilü? Cuilü (翠縷) is Shi Xiangyun’s personal maid in Dream of the Red Chamber. She first appears in Chapter 21, the morning after Xiangyun sleeps over in Lin Daiyu’s room. Her very first line is a wisecrack at Baoyu’s expense.

The name

翠縷 (Traditional) · 翠缕 (Simplified) · Cuìlǚ

翠 (cuì): the bright blue-green of a kingfisher’s feathers, or “emerald green.”
縷 (lǚ): a thread or a single strand.

So her name means something like “Emerald Thread.” It’s a seamstress’s sort of name, delicate and bright.

How do you say it? That ü is the vowel in French “tu,” not an English “oo.” In Bopomofo, her name is ㄘㄨㄟˋ ㄌㄩˇ, and the ㄩ makes the sound impossible to miss.

David Hawkes calls her “Kingfisher,” which is another odd name for a girl.

The Yangs call her Tsui-lu.

First impression

Baoyu turns up in the girls’ bedroom at dawn, and by the time Cuilü and Daiyu’s maid Zijuan come in to help the girls wash, he’s already sitting by the dressing table. When Cuilü picks up Xiangyun’s basin to throw out the water, Baoyu stops her so he can wash his own face in it. Cuilü isn’t impressed. She purses her lips and smirks: this is the same bad habit as always.

The story so far

Ch. 21: She helps Xiangyun wash up, watches Baoyu wash his face in her mistress’s leftover water, and teases him for his “same bad habit as always” → The Missing Pearl

Relationships

Shi Xiangyun, her mistress: Cuilü comes with her when she stays at the Jia mansion.
Jia Baoyu, her mistress’s cousin: She knows his habits well enough to tease him to his face.
Zijuan, Lin Daiyu’s maid: They work side by side the morning Xiangyun sleeps over.

What readers argue about

How does she know Baoyu’s habits? Cuilü serves Xiangyun, not Baoyu, and yet she talks as if she’s seen him do this a hundred times. Remember that Xiangyun used to comb Baoyu’s hair when they were small, and that Baoyu’s maid Xiren once served “Miss Shi” too. How close did these households grow up? → The Missing Pearl

Essays and posts about Cuilü

None yet.