List of characters

Liang Gangfu Mei's maid in the Liu household. a servant in the Mei household. a male geography and history teacher at Lüzhou Normal School. a young maid in the Mei household. a warlord with progressive leanings who is in command of the Lüzhou-Sichuan region. Mei's father, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. an unconventional young female family friend of Mr. and Mrs. Huang who later becomes Mei's roommate in Shanghai. a member of the theater club at Mei's middle school. a Chinese language teacher at Liizhou Normal School who becomes enamoured of Mei; he reappears in Shanghai. an arrogant male Sichuanese political activist living in Shanghai to whom Mei is physically and intellectually attracted.