Xue Baochai (, and her surname is a

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...

with "Snow", rendered Precious Virtue in

Chi-chen Wang Chi-chen Wang (; 1899–2001) was a Chinese-born American literary scholar and translator. He taught as a professor at Columbia University from 1929 until his retirement in 1965. Life and career Wang was born in Huantai County, Shandong provinc ...

's translation) is one of the principal characters in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

''. Described as extremely beautiful and socially graceful, her attributes complement those of her cousin

Lin Daiyu Lin Daiyu (also spelled Lin Tai-yu, zh, s=林黛玉, p=Lín Dàiyù, rendered Black Jade in Chi-chen Wang's translation) is one of the principal characters of Cao Xueqin's classic 18th-century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is ...

. Indeed, it has been suggested that the two women are complements of one another – each has exactly the attributes of

Cao Xueqin Cáo Xuěqín ( ; ); (4 April 1710 — 10 June 1765)Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four G ...

's ideal woman which the other lacks. 金陵十二钗正册 05

She is the only daughter of

Aunt Xue ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

and the younger sister of

Xue Pan Xue Pan () is a secondary character in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. He is a ne'er-do-well lout who is guilty of the killing of a man over a beautiful slave girl, Zhen Yinglian, who is renamed as Xiangling ( ...

, a local Jinling bully. Unlike her brother, she is an excellent poet and a good elder cousin to Baoyu and Daiyu, and a good mistress to her maids. Well liked by all the servants and the mistresses of the Jia household, she also is a capable person, once helping

Lady Wang Lady Wang (王夫人) is a character in the classic Chinese 18th century novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is the wife of Jia Zheng, and mother of Jia Zhu (dead at the start of the novel), Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu. She is the elder sis ...

manage the Rong Guo Mansion. Baochai is also extremely tactful, always careful never to offend anyone of importance in the house. Eventually, she marries

Jia Baoyu Jia Baoyu (, and his surname is a homophone with "false" or "fictitious") is the principal character in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. Introduction The first chapter describes how one piece of stone was le ...

. The novel portrays Xue Baochai as a perspicacious and talented woman whose marriage became a tragedy because Jia Baoyu, her husband, is never able to truly forget Lin Daiyu, his true love, after the latter died before they could get married. There is a tragic song in chapter five which foreshadows her fate. In the Cheng-Gao version of the novel, Xue Baochai marries Jia Baoyu under the machinations of

Wang Xifeng Wang Xifeng (, rendered Phoenix in Chi-chen Wang's translation) is one of the principal characters in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She came from one of the Four Great Families, the Wang (the other three ar ...

and

Grandmother Jia Grandmother Jia ( zh, t=賈母, p=Jiǎ Mǔ), née Shi, so often also called Dowager Shi ( zh, s=史太君, p=Shǐ Tàijūn) or simply the Dowager, is a major character in the 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is the daug ...

, causing Lin Daiyu's death through grief. However, many

Redology Redology () is the academic study of Cao Xueqin's ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of China. There are numerous researchers in this field; most can be divided into four general groups. The first group are th ...

scholars have commented that this is unlikely since, according to

Zhiyanzhai Zhiyanzhai (脂硯齋/脂砚斋; pinyin: Zhī Yànzhāi, ''literally'': "Rouge Inkstone Studio", sometimes translated as Red Inkstone or Rouge Inkstone) was the pseudonym of an early and mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese novel ''D ...

and the clues of

foreshadowing Foreshadowing is a narrative device in which a storyteller gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, and it helps develop or subvert the audience's expectations about upco ...

, Lin Daiyu dies well before their eventual wedding.

Notes

External links

Biography of Xue Baochai in Dream of the Red Chamber: Afterlives
Dream of the Red Chamber characters Fictional characters from Jiangsu {{novel-char-stub

See also

Notes

External links