Jia Baoyu

Who is Jia Baoyu? Jia Baoyu (賈寶玉) is the central character of Dream of the Red Chamber: the pampered teenage son of the noble Jia family, Grandmother Jia’s favorite grandchild, and the boy who came into the world holding a piece of jade in his mouth. He hates studying, adores the girls around him, and insists that girls are made of water and boys of mud.

The name

賈寶玉 / 贾宝玉 / Jiǎ Bǎoyù

賈 (jiǎ), the family surname, sounds exactly like 假, “false.” The novel plays on this from page one, pairing the Jia family with the Zhen family (甄, which sounds like 真, “true”).
寶 (bǎo) means “treasure” or “precious.”
玉 (yù) means “jade,” the most prized stone in Chinese culture.

So: “Precious Jade.” The boy and his stone share a name; in Chapter 8 the jade itself is written with the same two characters, 寶玉 (Xue Baochai Sees The Jade). He’s the only boy of the family’s “jade” generation whose name contains 玉 itself (The Generational Line), and that 玉 links him to his cousin Lin Daiyu (林黛玉). Even the Prince of Beijing jokes that he’s as precious as his name (Ch. 15, The Young Phoenix).

The jade. It’s the size of a sparrow’s egg, glows in five colors, and is engraved with its formal name, 通靈寶玉, the Precious Jade of Spiritual Understanding, and a motto: “Never lose me, never forget me; / Eternal life, enduring prosperity”. It’s really a stone left over when the goddess Nüwa mended the sky, shrunk to pendant size (Ch. 1, Ch. 8). Grandmother Jia calls it his lifeline. Baoyu would happily be rid of it (What Jia Baoyu’s Jade Means).

Other names so far: the Heavenly Jade Servant (神瑛侍者), his identity in heaven (Ch. 1); the family’s “Demon King of Chaos” (混世魔王, his mother’s warning, Ch. 3); Brother Bao, Cousin Bao or Uncle Bao, depending on who’s talking (Ch. 7–11).

First impression

We hear about Baoyu before we meet him. In Chapter 2, an antique dealer gossips that at his first-birthday fortune test the baby grabbed only makeup and hairpins, and that he now says, “Girls are made of water, pure and clear. Boys are made of mud, foul and dull” (Jia Baoyu on Men and Women). In Chapter 3, Lin Daiyu braces for a spoiled troublemaker and meets a handsome boy who seems to smile even when he’s angry. Both feel they’ve met before. Within minutes he has nicknamed her “Frowner,” asked if she has a jade, and, hearing she doesn’t, hurled his own to the floor (Lin Daiyu Meets Jia Baoyu).

The story so far

Ch. 1: A stone becomes the Heavenly Jade Servant and waters a Crimson Pearl Fairy Plant, who vows to follow him to earth and repay him with tears → Zhen Shiyin’s Dream · Repaying The Debt With Tears
Ch. 5: Napping in Qin Keqing’s bedroom, he dreams of a goddess who shows him poems hinting at the girls’ futures, then initiates him into sex → Jia Baoyu Learns the Secrets
Ch. 6: He sleeps with his maid Xiren, a scene Daniel calls “extremely troubling” because of his power over her → Jia Baoyu’s First Sexual Encounter
Ch. 7–9: Dazzled by Qin Keqing’s brother, Qin Zhong, he feels ashamed of his wealth and gets them sent to school together → Jia Baoyu Gets Ready for School
Ch. 8: Xue Baochai reads his jade’s inscription, which pairs perfectly with the words on her golden locket → Xue Baochai Sees the Jade
Ch. 13–16: Qin Keqing’s death makes him cough up blood, and grief for Qin Zhong leaves him cold to his sister becoming Imperial Consort → Jia Baoyu’s Grief
Ch. 17–18: His father makes him name the scenes of the new Grand View Garden, and his sister keeps several names → The Naming War
Ch. 19: He nearly loses Xiren to her family, then teases Daiyu with a tale of a mouse who becomes “fragrant jade” → Xiren’s House · Servitude · The Mouse Story
Ch. 20: He stays home to nurse Xiren after his old nanny berates her, and when his half-brother cheats at dice, we learn why Baoyu never plays the stern older brother: to him, boys are a lesser breed than girls → Hua Xiren and Nanny Li Fight · Jia Huan Cheats at Dice
Ch. 20: Shi Xiangyun arrives, and Baoyu and Daiyu have their first great quarrel → The Big Fight

Relationships

Grandmother Jia, Grandmother: Dotes on him and shields him from his father.
Jia Zheng, father: Wrote him off as a pleasure seeker at age one.
Lin Daiyu, cousin (father’s side): The girl he’s sure he’s met before.
Xue Baochai, cousin (mother’s side): Her golden locket matches his jade.
Hua Xiren, chief maid: His first lover, and the one who scolds him.
Qin Zhong, school friend: Made him ashamed of his wealth.
Jia Yuanchun, elder sister: Taught him thousands of characters before he could read.
Wang Xifeng, cousin’s wife: Runs the household and keeps him in line.

What readers argue about

Is the gold-and-jade match fate, or a setup? A monk told Baochai’s family what to engrave on her locket. Daniel weighs three readings: she’s truly his match, the meddling monk and Taoist are steering events, or her family is engineering a marriage (Xue Baochai Sees the Jade). Daiyu, who has no jade, notices.

Romantic or libertine? The goddess calls him history’s most lustful man, then says she means 意淫 (yìyín), “lust of the mind”: a hunger for emotional connection, not just sex. How does that square with Xiren, or Qin Zhong? See Jia Baoyu the Sexual Deviant and Understanding Jia Baoyu’s Homosexuality.

Is he even the hero? The novel introduces him with mock poems calling him useless, and his father has given up on him. Yet the scholar Jia Yucun insists boys like him are born from a rare clash of the universe’s best and worst energies. See Is Jia Baoyu A Protagonist? and The Metaphysics of Jia Baoyu.

Essays and posts about Jia Baoyu

Start here: The Jia Baoyu in All of Us · Is Jia Baoyu A Protagonist? · The Metaphysics of Jia Baoyu · Jia Baoyu on Men and Women
The jade: What Jia Baoyu’s Jade Means · Baoyu Throws Away His Jade
Love and desire: Jia Baoyu’s Attraction to Lin Daiyu · Jia Baoyu Learns the Secrets · Jia Baoyu the Sexual Deviant · Understanding Jia Baoyu’s Homosexuality · Jia Baoyu and Qin Zhong
Family and grief: Jia Zheng and Jia Baoyu · Jia Baoyu’s Grief · Jia Baoyu’s Psychological Struggle