Character guide

Empress Dowager Tze-Hsi

major

Also known as the Empress Dowager, Dowager Empress Tze-Hsi, Her Majesty

She governs an empire while quoting classics from memory with her favorite daughter-in-law, her literary gifts as sharp as her political instinct. Courtiers call her the Old Buddha, investing her with sacred authority she neither discourages nor needs. Her decision to allow a foreign woman to paint her portrait is itself a calculated act, and everything the narrator sees of her flows from that uneasy intimacy between ruler and observer.

Katherine A. Carl

major

Also known as Katharine A. Carl, Carl

Invited by Mrs. Conger to paint the Empress Dowager for the St. Louis Exposition, she arrives knowing nothing of court protocol and everything to lose. Her position is precarious: a foreign woman with a brush, dependent on the moods of a ruler she has been warned to fear. Her painter's eye becomes the reader's, and her slow discovery that the Empress is nothing like the rumors is the engine of the book.

Emperor Kwang-Hsu

supporting

Also known as Kwang-Hsu, the young Emperor Kwang-Hsu, His Majesty

He occupies the throne but not the power, a young man whose minority was steered by two Empresses and whose adulthood has not freed him from the older one's grip. Where Tze-Hsi commands a room, he recedes from it, and the court reads the difference. His quiet presence sharpens the question the book keeps circling: what does it mean to be sovereign when someone else has always held the reins?

Mrs. Conger

supporting

It is Mrs. Conger's letter to Shanghai that sets the whole enterprise in motion, and her hope that a true likeness might soften America's image of the Empress. She has seen enough of the court to know its rituals and enough of Washington to know what a portrait at St. Louis could do. Her dual loyalty, to diplomacy and to her friend's success, makes her both sponsor and quiet pressure on the narrator's nerve.

Lady Yu-Keng

supporting

Also known as the Ladies Yu-Keng, Ladies Yu-Keng, the Yu-Kengs

The Yu-Kengs belong to the small circle of Manchu women who attend the Empress, share her pastimes, and absorb her moods without ever contradicting her. Their standing depends on her favor, distributed with a care that keeps any one lady from gaining supremacy. To the narrator, they are both guides and gauges, their deference and ease revealing how the court's affections actually run beneath its ceremonies.

Prince Ch'un

minor

Also known as The Prince

The Emperor's father, a prince of the seventh rank, whose palace is described in the book.

Prince Ching

minor

A high-ranking Manchu prince and official at the Chinese court.

Grand Secretary Yung Lu

minor

Also known as Yung Lu

A powerful Grand Secretary and trusted advisor to the Empress Dowager.

Sir Robert Hart

minor

Also known as Sir Robert

The British Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Customs, a notable foreign figure.

Late Emperor Tung-Chih

minor

Also known as the Emperor Tung-Chih, young Tung-Chih

The deceased predecessor of Kwang-Hsu, mentioned in historical context.

Emperor Hsien-Feng

minor

The late husband of the Empress Dowager, a historical figure referenced in the narrative.

Wang

minor

A servant or attendant in the palace, mentioned by name in the narrative.

Hailo

minor

A person mentioned in the narrative, possibly a servant or minor court figure.

Young Prince Adalbert of Prussia

minor

A visiting German prince who appears at a court function.

Confucius

minor

The ancient Chinese philosopher, referenced in relation to sacrifices and literary traditions.

Buddha

minor

The religious figure, mentioned in the context of Chinese religious rites.

Kang-Yu-Wei

minor

Also known as the so-called reformer Kang-Yu-Wei

A reformer mentioned critically in the narrative, associated with political events.

Whar-Mou-Lahn

minor

Also known as the Chinese Jeanne d'Arc, the warlike Maiden

A legendary Chinese female warrior, referenced as a historical example.

Sih-Gerga

minor

A person mentioned in the narrative, possibly a servant or minor character.