Zhen Baoyu is a character in the novel Dream of the Red Chamber. Wikidata names him Zhen Baoyu, so the title stays that personal name.[1][2]
Family
He is the son of Zhen Yingjia, president of the Tiren yuan in Jinling province. He has the same given name as Jia Baoyu, looks and temperament much like him, and is one year younger. The surnames Zhen and Jia are used to set the true against the false. The Zhen house is as eminent as the Jia house: its ancestors received the imperial visit four times, and the two families are both old kin and hereditary friends.[2]
What the first eighty chapters say
In the first eighty chapters Zhen Baoyu never comes on stage. People in the Jia house only talk about him. They say he was unruly as a child and skipped school every day, and that he would study only with two girls beside him. He held the word daughter to be the most honored and the most pure, rarer than auspicious beasts or rare plants. When his father beat him past endurance he cried out sister at random. Jia Baoyu met him in a dream and kept expecting him. When Zhen Baoyu was four, Jia Yucun came as the family tutor and resigned because he could not bear the grandmother's spoiling. The article says the same Jia Yucun also began Lin Daiyu's lessons. At fourteen the Zhen house was raided, and Zhen Baoyu, like Jia Baoyu, dreamed of the Land of Illusion. The article lists these mentions of the Zhen family in the first eighty chapters: Jia Yucun speaks of the Jiangnan Zhen house while Leng Zixing describes the Rongguo house; Xifeng reports a gift from the Zhen house; Nanny Zhao tells of four imperial receptions; the Zhen house comes to the capital to pay respects and the Zhen lady is received; five hundred taels of funeral silver arrive after Jia Jing's death; a screen arrives for the Lady Dowager's birthday; during the search of the garden Tanchun says the household was discussing the raid on the Zhen house that morning; Madam You reads in the gazette that the Zhen house is guilty; Lady Wang tells the Lady Dowager of the confiscation and the summons to the capital for punishment.[2]
The later account in the article
The article says that after waking he put away his childhood mischief, set his mind on rank, and studied in earnest. At eighteen he met Jia Baoyu. Jia Baoyu thought him bent on office, a parasite of salary, and they parted on bad terms. Zhen Baoyu later passed the provincial examination. When he heard from Jia Lan that Jia Baoyu had wandered off in a daze, he sighed and tried to comfort the family. In the tenth month Jia Baoyu took leave of Jia Zheng and returned to the Green Ridge Peak. Zhen Baoyu stayed in the ordinary world, married Li Qi, a cousin of Li Wan, and meant to restore the house through the examinations.[2]
Basic facts
- Name: Zhen Baoyu[1]
- Description: a character in Dream of the Red Chamber[1]
- Appears in: Dream of the Red Chamber[2]