Qin Zhong

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Qin Zhong (Chinese: 秦钟; Pinyin: Qín Zhōng) is a secondary character in Cao Xueqin's classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. He is Qin Shi's younger brother and Jia Baoyu's best friend and schoolmate.

Qin Zhong and Baoyu are around 12 when they meet, and this character is only around for a year or two. His elder sister is Qin Keqing, Baoyu's nephew Jia Rong's wife, and so he is technically a generation younger than Baoyu. Both he and Qin Shi are the adopted children of Qin Bang-ye. The two boys get along marvelously and decide to enroll in the Jia clan's school together and become study-mates. He becomes Baoyu's best friend.

Qin Zhong and the little novice nun Sapientia, who grew up visiting the Jia household, eventually fall in love. Sapientia absconds from the Water-Moon Priory and makes her way into the city to find Qin Zhong, but is chased away at the door by his father. After giving Qin Zhong a severe beating, Qin Bang-ye succumbs to anger and shock. Qin Zhong, already just recovering from illness, dies from a combination of the severe beating, and overwhelming grief and remorse.