Xue Baochai

'Precious Chai', and her surname is a homophone with "Snow", rendered Precious Virtue in Chi-chen Wang's translation) is one of the principal characters in the classic 18th century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.

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

Well liked by all the servants and the mistresses of the Jia household, she also is a capable person, once helping Lady Wang manage the Rong Guo Mansion.

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.

However, many Redology scholars have commented that this is unlikely since, according to Zhiyanzhai and the clues of foreshadowing, Lin Daiyu dies well before their eventual wedding.