Character guide

The Taipan

major

Also known as taipan

The Taipan runs Jardine's, gives generously to charity, plays a decent round of golf, and has never once set foot in the Chinese city beyond his own compradore's office. He is a bachelor by policy — marriage, he says, is no use to a man in China — and he prides himself on hating the country and the people with the same cheerful thoroughness he brings to a billiards tournament. His unfathomable frivolity, that grey-haired man singing Lily Elsie ditties nine thousand miles from home, is what makes him the treaty port's most admired and most unsettling fixture.

Mr. Wingrove

supporting

Also known as Wingrove

Mr. Wingrove lives among missionaries who call the Chinese lying, cruel, and dirty; he alone insists on their good-nature, their devotion to parents, their love of children. But when a Chinese teacher steps into the room, his face contorts with physical repulsion before he forces it into a pleasant smile, and his measured praise comes out in a voice not quite his own. He will not read his books, will not go home, will not see what he loves — a man martyring his own soul with passionate exasperation, and the narrator watches him with the excitement of an explorer sighting new country.

Robert Webb

supporting

Also known as Webb

Robert Webb is the peacemaker and promotion-marked official every treaty port likes: a good table, a pleasant piano, better-than-average bridge, blue friendly eyes, and the tact to be His Britannic Majesty's Consul without portentousness. He keeps photographs of a son at Charterhouse and a daughter now nineteen and married — a girl he last saw as a child, and whom he speaks of with a curious, peevish evasion when asked about going home. His long separation is one of the quiet tragedies of China life, and it shadows every agreeable evening he spends among men who will never leave.

The Mongol Chief

minor

Also known as III The Mongol Chief Heaven

A Mongol leader encountered during the narrator's travels.

The Consul

supporting

Also known as consul

The Consul belongs to the closed circle of number ones and managers — Jardine's, the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank, the A.P.C., the B.A.T. — who dine together in evening clothes worn more from duty to country than comfort. They talk of racing, golf, and shooting; they distrust any man who studies Chinese, hire interpreters for twenty-five dollars a month, and suspect that those who go in for the language grow queer in the head. China bores them, and they bore each other, and their stifled, silent dinners are the treaty port's true portrait.

Captain Boots

minor

Also known as Boots

A sea captain, likely a rough and experienced mariner.

Dr. Macalister

minor

Also known as Macalister

A doctor, possibly a missionary or colonial physician.

Mr. Pete

minor

Also known as The Consul Mr. Pete

A consul or official, possibly a distinct character from the consul.

The Doctor

minor

Also known as doctor, The doctor—he

A medical doctor, possibly the same as Dr. Macalister or a separate figure.

Henderson

minor

A character featured in a chapter, possibly a colonial resident.

Vicomte de Steenvoorde

minor

Also known as The Vicomte, M. de Steenvoorde

A French aristocrat traveling or residing in China.

Miss Lambert

minor

Also known as Bertie

A young woman, possibly a love interest or social figure.

The Stranger

minor

Also known as stranger

A mysterious figure encountered in a chapter.

Dr. Saunders

minor

A doctor, possibly a separate character from Dr. Macalister.

The Judge

minor

Also known as judge

A judge, likely in a colonial or local court setting.

The Sea-Dog Captains

minor

Also known as LIII The Sea - Dog Ships ’ captains

A group of sea captains, possibly a collective character.

Fanning

minor

Also known as Mrs. Fanning, The Fannings

A married couple, the Fannings, part of the expatriate community.

The Harbour Master

minor

Also known as harbour master, harbour - master

The official in charge of the port.

Jardine

minor

A reference to the trading company or a person, likely historical.

The Officer

minor

Also known as officer

A military or police officer encountered in the narrative.

Higgins

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or clerk.

Little Mrs. Turner

minor

A married woman, part of the social circle.

The Sultana Fatima

minor

A Sultana, possibly a historical or legendary figure mentioned.

Birch

minor

A minor character, possibly a trader or official.

Willard B. Untermeyer

minor

An American or European traveler or businessman.

Elizabeth

minor

A woman, possibly a relative or acquaintance of a character.

Mrs. Wingrove

minor

The wife of Mr. Wingrove.

George

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or friend.