Who is Jia Lian? Jia Lian (賈璉) is Wang Xifeng’s husband in Dream of the Red Chamber. He’s a grandson of Grandmother Jia, the son of her elder son, Jia She. He’s in his twenties, charming and good with people, and he’s the man the family sends when something needs doing outside the walls. He’s also always looking at other women.
The name
賈璉 / 贾琏 / Jiǎ Liǎn / ㄐㄧㄚˇ ㄌㄧㄢˇ
賈 (jiǎ), the family surname, sounds just like 假, “false.” The novel plays on that pun from its first chapter.
璉 (liǎn) is an old vessel for holding grain offerings in an ancestral hall. It has the jade radical, like the names of the other young men of his generation: 珍 (Jia Zhen), 珠 (Jia Zhu), 寶玉 (Baoyu).
A vessel for offerings to the ancestors is a solemn thing to name a son after. In my notes on Chapter 2, I called him a failed sacred vessel: a man named for duty who doesn’t much care for it.
Other names so far:
Master Lian (璉二爺), what the servants call him.
“Second Brother” (二哥哥), what Jia Rui calls him when he asks Xifeng why her husband isn’t home yet (Ch. 12).
What we know so far
We hear about Jia Lian before we meet him. In Chapter 2, he’s described as a man who bought himself an official title, doesn’t enjoy the duties that go with it, and is shrewd and smooth-talking in practical affairs. He lives with his uncle Jia Zheng and helps run the household. Then his wife arrives on the scene, and it’s soon clear who really runs it.
The marriage is the most interesting thing about him. In Chapter 7, a servant arrives at midday and hears him laughing behind a closed door with Xifeng (Wang Xifeng’s Nap). When he takes Lin Daiyu home to see her dying father, Xifeng stays up all night packing his furs, and she warns his servant to keep him away from “shameless women” (Lin Daiyu’s Father Dies). She had reason to worry. Back home in Chapter 16, he thanks her for her hard work, and within minutes he’s admiring Xiangling, a pretty young girl he passed on the way in. Xifeng offers to trade Ping’er for her (Wang Xifeng Teases Jia Lian). Meanwhile, Ping’er quietly keeps Xifeng’s private money out of his sight.
In Chapter 21, his little daughter comes down with smallpox, and household custom sends him to sleep alone in the outer study for twelve days. He manages two nights. He’s afraid of his wife, but not afraid enough.
My reading so far, after Chapter 21: Jia Lian isn’t a villain. He’s a man with no center. He’s good at whatever errand is in front of him and careless about everything that lasts, including his marriage. Xifeng’s hard edge makes more sense once you see what she’s married to, which is the case I made in Wang Xifeng The Victim.
Every post about Jia Lian
Start here: Wang Xifeng Teases Jia Lian · Wang Xifeng The Victim · Wang Xifeng’s Nap
Read next
Meet his wife: Wang Xifeng
All characters: Characters
New here? Start with the Start Here guide, or meet the rest of the family on the Characters page.