Jia Tanchun

Jia Tanchun (Chinese: 賈探春; Pinyin: Jiǎ Tànchūn)is the younger half-sister of Jia Baoyu and a major character in Dream of the Red Chamber. She is the daughter of Jia Zheng and his concubine, Concubine Zhao. Tanchun is a very capable person, once temporarily managing all household and economical affairs of the Jung Mansion when Wang Xifeng had a miscarriage. Despite this achievement, however, the fact she is the daughter of a concubine is still such a burden that she often claims Lady Wang, Baoyu's mother, as her own. Tanchun is also the founder of the Peach Flower Poetry Club, a private poetry club for the residents of Grandview Garden.

Tanchun is the third of the quartet of "Springs". Her name translates as "Quest Spring". She is very beautiful and has a "prickly personality. therefore, she has the nickname "Rose". Tanchun provides a sharp contrast to her elder cousin Jia Yingchun. While Tanchun is brash and capable, Yingchun is weak-willed and untalented. Eventually she marries the son of a frontier official and lives her married life in a foreign country. Although her husband's family loved her, she still missed her family in the Capital and therefore was a now tragic figure.

See also

*Dream of the Red Chamber