A prevailing theme of the novel is the strength that female relationships provide as support, nurturance, rescue, and mainstay throughout a woman’s life. While a woman of Yunxian’s status is raised, as the injunctions of the opening chapter suggest, to please and serve a husband, Yunxian learns early on that the “circle of good” (66) provided by the women in her life will nourish and sustain her far more than her marriage will.

Yunxian receives her first hint at the importance of creating female alliances when she travels to her grandparents’ home. Miss Zhao, her father’s concubine and Yunxian’s chaperone, knows she cannot replace Yunxian’s mother but reminds the girl that she will be in a new place and will need to cultivate friends. The power and strength of this friendship endure for many years, as Miss Zhao steps in later to accompany Yunxian to Beijing and also helps her tend the smallpox outbreak in the Garden of Fragrant Delights. As a concubine who could be sold at any moment, Miss Zhao’s position in the Tan household is only assured by her status as the mother of Master Tan’s surviving son, but her motives are based on genuine friendship, as she risks her own welfare to help Yunxian in her times of need.