The first chapter describes how one piece of stone was left over from when the Wall of Heaven was repaired by the Goddess Nüwa.

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.

[1] Baoyu's romance and relationship with Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai forms one of the novel's main plot lines.

There is another Baoyu in the novel, a minor character with the surname of "Zhen" (甄), a homophone for "truth" or "real" in Mandarin.