| | | | Part 1 |
| | Headman | | The mountain village head. |
| | Luo | | Narrator's best friend. |
| | Narrator | | The unnamed narrator. Luo's best friend. |
| | Madame | Mao | Zedong's wife. |
| | Mao | Zedong | The Chinese-chairman. |
| | Jiang | Jieshi | President of the Republic prior to communist takeover. |
| | Luo's father | | A famous dentist in China. |
| | Father | Michel | A French Missionary. |
| | Little | Seamstress | The mountain girl in need of culture. |
| | Tailor | | The only tailor in Phoenix. Little Seamstress's father. |
| | Four-Eyes | | Luo's friend. |
| | Sorceress | | The old woman who visited Phoenix. |
| | | | Part 2 |
| | Enver | Hoxha | Albanian Communist leader. |
| | Balzac | | The author of Unule Mirouet. |
| | Ursule | | The protagonist in Balzac's book. |
| | Old Man | | The old miller that Luo met. |
| | Knitting | Poetess | Four-Eyes's mother. |
| | Victor | Hugo | A novelist. |
| | Stendhal | | A novelist. |
| | Dickens | | An English writer. |
| | Emily | Bronte | An English writer. |
| | Kipling | | An English writer. |
| | | | Part 3 |
| | Romain | Rolland | Narrator's favorite author. |
| | Fu Lei | | Chinese translator. |
| | Jean-Christophe | | Protagonist in Rolland's novel. |
| | Edmond | Dantes | Protagonist in Count of Monte Cristo. |
| | Village | Cripple | The leader of the gang. |