# Ming - shu — Kai Lung’s Golden Hours character guide

> Ming - shu in Kai Lung’s Golden Hours by Ernest Bramah.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the pressing hand of one Ming - shu, one Ming - shu, Ming, the Effete Ming - Shu, Ming - hu

**First appearance:** 0005-iii-the-degraded-persistence-of-the-effete-ming-shu

## Snapshot

The effete taker-down of spoken words, whose polished irony and sly insinuations keep the Mandarin's court simmering with suspicion.

## Who they are

Ming-shu serves as the official recorder of speech, a role he bends toward mischief by twisting words and hinting at hidden confederacies. He resents Kai Lung's uncanny readiness with a story for every occasion, and his needling of Shan Tien exposes the fragility beneath the Mandarin's self-regard. His quiet antagonism sharpens the early courtroom scenes, making each tale Kai Lung tells a test of nerve as much as of wit.

## In the story

### [Kai Lung's Golden Hours](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/kai-lung-s-golden-hours)

Plots against Kai Lung, orchestrating trials to entrap him.

### [The Encountering of Six Within a Wood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/i-the-encountering-of-six-within-a-wood)

Mentioned as having the right ear of Shan Tien, a threat to Kai Lung.

### [II: The Inexorable Justice of the Mandarin Shan Tien](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/ii-the-inexorable-justice-of-the-mandarin-shan-tien)

The secretary who accuses Kai Lung of treason and plots to have him executed, but is overruled by Shan Tien.

### [The Degraded Persistence of the Effete Ming-Shu](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/iii-the-degraded-persistence-of-the-effete-ming-shu)

Plots to use Cho-kow to implicate Kai Lung, but his plan is thwarted when Cho-kow calls for Kai Lung to testify.

### [The Timely Intervention of the Mandarin Shan Tien's Lucky Day](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/v-the-timely-intervention-of-the-mandarin-shan-tien-s-lucky-day)

The antagonist who plots a second trial against Kai Lung with a cloud of witnesses, but is thwarted by their absence.

### [The High-Minded Strategy of the Amiable Hwa-Mei](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/vi-the-high-minded-strategy-of-the-amiable-hwa-mei)

Plots to have Kai-moo judged and executed, intending to implicate Kai Lung through a false kinship.

### [The Story of Weng Cho; or, the One Devoid of Name](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/the-story-of-weng-cho-or-the-one-devoid-of-name)

Not directly present; no relevant appearance in this chapter.

### [Not Concerned with Any Particular Attribute of Those Who Are Involved](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/vii-not-concerned-with-any-particular-attribute-of-those-who-are-involved)

Is away on a secret mission to Hing-poo, temporarily out of the immediate plot.

### [The Timely Disputation Among Those of an Inner Chamber of Yu-Ping](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/viii-the-timely-disputation-among-those-of-an-inner-chamber-of-yu-ping)

Ming-shu is absent from Yu-ping for three days but is expected to return, continuing his enmity toward Kai Lung.

### [The Propitious Dissension Between Two Whose General Attributes Have Already Been Sufficiently Described](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/ix-the-propitious-dissension-between-two-whose-general-attributes-have-already-been-sufficiently-described)

Interrupts the private meeting, accuses Shan Tien of leniency, and demands Kai Lung's execution; cites the proverb about Yuen Yan to challenge Kai Lung.

### [X: The Incredible Obtuseness of Those Who Had Opposed the Virtuous Kai Lung](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/x-the-incredible-obtuseness-of-those-who-had-opposed-the-virtuous-kai-lung)

Reconciles with Shan Tien and plots the feast where Kai Lung will be humiliated.

### [XI: Of Which It Is Written: “In Shallow Water Dragons Become the Laughingstock of Shrimps”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/xi-of-which-it-is-written-in-shallow-water-dragons-become-the-laughingstock-of-shrimps)

The scheming recorder who plots Kai Lung's downfall but is outwitted and ends up being led to prison with the cang.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/characters/ming_shu
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/characters