Jia Baoyu

Jia Baoyu
Aliases	Unknown
Chinese name	simplified Chinese: 贾宝玉 traditional Chinese: 賈寶玉
Pinyin	Jiǎ Bǎoyù
Relatives	Father: Jia Zheng Mother: Lady Wang Siblings: Jia Zhu (brother) Jia Yuanchun (sister) Jia Tanchun (half sister) Jia Huan (half brother) Wife: Xue Baochai
Affiliation	Jia Family Wang Family
Biographical information
Marital status	Married
Date of birth	Unknown
Place of birth	Unknown
Date of death	Unknown
Place of death	Unknown
Physical description
Gender	Male

Jia Baoyu (traditional Chinese: 賈寶玉; simplified Chinese: 贾宝玉; pinyin: Jiǎ Bǎoyù; Meaning: "Precious Jade", and his surname is a homophone with "false" or "fictitious") is the principal character in the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.

Introduction

The first chapter describes how one piece of stone was left over from when the Wall of Heaven was repaired by the Goddess Nüwa. That stone, changed into a piece of luminous jade, is given a chance to learn the emptiness of human existence by following another incarnation who is to be Jia Baoyu. Baoyu is thus born with a magical piece of jade in his mouth. His name, which literally means "precious jade", was given him in honor of this. The jade and Baoyu share a mystical link, and the Cheng-Gao version ends after the jade is lost for good and Baoyu himself disappears.

Baoyu is portrayed as having little interest in learning the Confucian classics, much to the despair of his father, Jia Zheng. He would rather spend his time reading or writing poetry and playing with his numerous female relations. He is nonetheless compassionate and thoughtful (perhaps as a juxtaposition onto the other male characters in the novel). Baoyu's romance with Lin Daiyu forms one of the novel's main plot lines. However, there are several women that plays an important part in his life. In particular, he is a darling of his grandmother, who dotes on him and occasionally shields him from his father. His wife Xue Baochai and his principal maids are also worthy of note. The crater Pao-yu on asteroid 433 Eros was named after him. In the end, he went to Yeluoli Xianjing and became Yanjue. Now he totally forgot about Lin Daiyu and moved on to the Ice Princess

Alter ego: Zhen Baoyu

There is another Baoyu in the novel, a minor character with the surname of "Zhen" (甄), a homophone for "truth" or "real". Zhen Baoyu shares many of Jia Baoyu's characteristics, living in a wealthy clan with many attendants and cousins, although he lives in Jinling (now Nanjing) rather than in the capital.

In Zhiyanzhai's commentary, it is clear that Zhen Baoyu would have had a large part to play in the later parts of the novel, now lost. He was to send Jia Baoyu's jade back when it went missing. Zhen Baoyu, like Jia Baoyu, also becomes a monk at the end. Hence, Zhen Baoyu can be said to be a mirror of Jia Baoyu, just as the fortunes of the fictitious Jia Clan are mirrored in those of the Zhen Clan ("real" family).

Servants

Nom	Sex	Role
Hua Xiren		Chief maid / unofficial concubine
Qingwen		Maid
Sheyue		Maid
Bihen		Maid
Qianxue		Maid
Zhuir		Maid
Sir		Maid
Liu Wur		Maid
Zixiao		Maid
Tanyun		Maid
Song ma		Maid
Xiaohong		Former maid
Liangr		Former maid
Li mama		baby minder
Peiming		Page
Wang Rong		foster brother / lackey
Chuyao		Page
Moyu		Page