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