Tsai Hsüeh-Ling
21 (born 1916)
Journalist, Writer & Editor of the Modern Youth Monthly
Shanghai is drowning – in war, in refugees and rotting corpses, and in an ever-encroaching threat of invasion. If I leave now, I will have escaped this sinking city whose only gifts to me are closed doors and heartbreaks.
And I will have abandoned everything that was meaningful.
Everything I loved.
All the dreams that mattered.
And the people who dreamed them.
Edgar Charles Ainsworth
42 (born 1895)
Solicitor, Fuller & Rodger; VP Asset Management, Jardine Matheson; [???]
He asks the waiter for a cappuccino and another pot of tea, and some butterfly cookies and cream puffs. ‘Park Hotel’s bakery has an impeccable reputation for being the best.’
‘But still not enough to stop you louts from ruining perfectly good tea,‘ I say.
‘With milk and sugar?’ He grins. ‘Alfonso Bialetti wouldn’t have considered a cappuccino a ruined cup of coffee.’
(Illustrations by hvmator)
Full Characters List
This list contains minor spoilers and reader discretion is advised.
Story Cast
- Tsai Hsüeh-Ling / 蔡雪凌 (a-Ling / 阿凌): Writer and editor at the Modern Youth Monthly magazine. Recently returned from Hongkong.
- Edgar Charles Ainsworth: Solicitor at Fuller & Rodger, Law Office. VP Asset Management at Jardine Matheson. Consultant to the Shanghai Municipal Council and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. [Other classified information redacted.]
- Hsü Jan / 許染: Editor-in-chief at the Modern Youth Monthly magazine. a-Ling’s maternal cousin.
- Tsai Yü-Cheng / 蔡於城: A sub-inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Police. a-Ling’s biological father.
- Chen Hsiao-Chün / 陳曉群: A constable of the Shanghai Municipal Police. Tsai Yü-Cheng’s deputy.
- Tseng Chih-Hsien / 曾志賢: Writer and editor at the Modern Youth Monthly magazine. Previously a-Ling and a-Yün’s literature and calligraphy tutor.
- Su Lan / 蘇嵐: Writer and editor at the Modern Youth Monthly magazine. Wu Cheng-En’s wife.
- Wu Cheng-En / 吳承恩: Writer and editor at the Modern Youth Monthly magazine. Hsü Jan’s classmate and close friend.
- Huang Ying / 黃瑛: Tsai Yü-Cheng’s current wife. a-Ling’s stepmother.
- Tsai Chin-Yün / 蔡瑾雲 (a-Yün / 阿雲): a-Ling’s younger half-sister.
- Chao Ying-Chun / 趙迎春 (Amah / 阿媽): A servant to the Tsai family.
- Hsü Tzu-Yang / 許子陽: a-Ling’s biological mother, deceased.
- Wu Min / 吳敏: Manager of Café de Flore on Boulevard de Montigny.
- Tsai Yen-Yü / 蔡彥玉: Sister of Tsai Tio-Tu, an underground Communist agent.
Historical Figures
- William “Tony” Johnstone Keswick: Taipan of Jardine Matheson. Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council.
- Father Robert Jacquinot de Besange: A French Jesuit priest, founder of the Nantao Refugee Zone.
- Tang Hui-Min / 唐惠民: Vice-chairman of the Nationalist Party’s Central Executive Committee Special Affairs Division, located at 76 Jessfield Road.
- Albert von Miorini: An Austrian doctor with a keen interest in theatre.
- Ruby Edwards: Albert von Miorini’s Eurasian mistress.
- Tsai Tio-Tou / 蔡釣徒: Editor-in-Chief of the Social Evening News.
