| Jacob | Alcok | Elly's acquaintance. |
| theodore | Alexander | A Berlin refugee who worked for Victor Sassoon. |
| Jacob | Alkow | A Jewish leader. |
| W. H. | Auden | Anglo-American poet. |
| Evelyn | Barnes | An American nurse. |
| Vicki | Baum | An Austrian writer. |
| Frederick | Beer | A German tycoon. Rachel's husband. |
| Michael | Blumenthal | Former U.S. treasury secretary. |
| Jose Pedro | Braga | A Portuguese immigrant. |
| Warren | Buffett | American investor. |
| James | Callaghan | Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. |
| Sylvia | Chancellor | A British resident of Shanghai who criticized Victor Sassoon. |
| Charlie | Chaplin | An English comic actor. |
| Leung | Chik | Horace's new gardener. |
| Winston | Churchill | Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. |
| Morris | Cohen | A Jewish former boxer. |
| Noel | Coward | An English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. |
| Evelyn | Cox | One of Barnes' nieces. |
| Oliver | Cromwell | An English statesman, politician and soldier. |
| Honore | de Balzac | A French writer. |
| Alfred | Dreyfus | A French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry. |
| Mao | Dun | Former Minister of Culture of the People's Republic of China. |
| Chen | Duxiu | Former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. |
| Shaul | Eisenberg | A billionaire head of one of Israel's largest companies. |
| Zhou | Enlai | Former President of the People's Republic of China. |
| Douglas | Fairbanks | A Hollywood movie star. |
| Ho | Feng-Shan | A Chinese diplomat stationed in Vienna. |
| Henry | Ford | American industrialist and business magnate. |
| Thomas | Gainsborough | An English portrait and landscape painter. |
| Mahatma | Gandhi | An Indian lawyer. |
| Greta | Garbo | A Swedish-American actress. |
| David Lloyd | George | Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. |
| Paulette | Goddard | American actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood. |
| Hermann | Goering | A German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. |
| Mikhail | Gorvachev | Former President of the Soviet Union. |
| Kano | Goya | One of anti-Semitic Japanese officers. |
| Robert | Grant | The new British governor-general of Bombay. |
| Maurice | Green | One of Victor Sassoon's former employee. |
| Pan | Guang | An influential Chinese academic. |
| Muriel | Gubbay | Lawrence's wife. |
| Hua | Guofeng | Former Premier of the People's Republic of China. |
| Emily | Hahn | A New York writer. |
| Silas | Hardoon | A real estate tycoon. |
| Lucie | Hartwich | A principal of school in Berlin. |
| Ellis | Hayim | A member of Baghdadi Jewish Diaspora. |
| Katherine | Hepburn | American actress. |
| Adolf | Hitler | A dictator from Germany. |
| Robert | Hotung | One of the richest Chinese men in town. |
| Koreshige | Inusuka | An anti-Semitic Japanese Navy captain. |
| Christopger | Isherwood | English-American novelist. |
| Thomas | Jackson | Head of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. |
| William | Jardin | An opium merchant and trader. |
| Xi | Jinping | President of the People's Republic of China. |
| Lou | Jiwei | Former Minister of Finance of the People's Republic of China. |
| Eleazer Silas | Kadoorie | Rima Kadoorie's youngest son. aka: Elly. |
| Rima | Kadoorie | A Sassoon's distant cousin. |
| Chiang | Kai-shek | Former President of the Republic of China. |
| E. S. | Kelly | Elly's adopted alias. |
| William | Keswick | Head of the Jardine's office in Shanghai. |
| Kwok | Keung | a Chinese doctor. |
| Henry | Kissinger | Former U.S. secretary of State. |
| Takahashi | Korekiyo | Deputy governor of the Bank of Japan. |
| H.H. | Kung | A descendant of Confucius and a wealthy banker. |
| Charles | Lindbergh | American military officer and aviator. |
| Henry | Luce | A powerful publisher of Time Inc. |
| Murray | MacLehose | Former Governor of Hong Kong. |
| Alex | Maisel | Lawrence's acquaintance. |
| Laura | Margolis | A social worker from Buffalo. |
| Peter | Max | An American illustrator. |
| Michael | Medavoy | American film producer and business executive. |
| Soong | Mei-ling | Soong Qing-ling's sister. |
| Joseph | Meisenger | An SS functionary in Nazi Germany. |
| Yang | Mengliang | Worked as a waiter in the Cathay's restaurant. |
| Li | Ming | Victor Sassoon's financial liaison to the Nationalist. |
| Frederick | Mocatta | Leader of the London-Jewish Community. |
| Robert | Morgenthau | Former Manhattan's District Attorney. |
| Gerhard | Moses | A refugee from Vienna. |
| Benjamin | Netanyahu | Prime Minister of Israel. |
| Ah | Ning | A nanny. |
| Richard | Nixon | The 37th U.S. President. |
| Lucien | Ovadia | Victor Sassoon's cousin and right-hand man. |
| Lord | Palmerston | British prime minister. |
| J.J. | Paterson | Head of Jardin in Hong Kong. |
| Christopher | Patten | The last British governor of Hong Kong. |
| J. K. | Patterson | Jardine's executive. |
| Li | Peng | Former Premier of the People's Republic of China. |
| Mary | Pickford | Douglas Fairbank's wife. |
| Ezio | Pinza | An Italian opera singer. |
| Marco | Polo | Italian merchant, explorer and writer. |
| Liang | Qichao-chai | One of China's most influential thinkers. |
| Jiang | Qing | Former First Lady of People's Republic of China. |
| Soong | Qing-ling | Sun Yat-sin's widow. |
| Arthur | Ransome | A British journalist. |
| Erich | Reisman | One of a Jewish passenger from Vienna. |
| John D. | Rockefeller | American business magnate. |
| William | Rogers | An American humorist and performer. |
| Zhu | Rongji | Former Premier of the People's Republic of China. |
| Franklin | Roosevelt | The 32nd U.S. President. |
| Theodore | Roosevelt | The 26th U.S. President. |
| Josef | Rossbach | One of the refugees from Austria. |
| Leo | Roth | One of the refugees from Austria. |
| Jacob | Saphir | A European researcher and writer. |
| John Singer | Sargent | An American artist. |
| Albert | Sassoon | Abdullah's new name. |
| Arthur | Sassoon | One of David Sassoon's sons. |
| David | Sassoon | Scion of a prominent Jewish family from Baghdad. |
| Edward Albert | Sassoon | Albert Sassoon's son. |
| Hugh | Sassoon | A London banker and descendant of Flora Sassoon. |
| Jacob | Sassoon | Elias' son. |
| James | Sassoon | Hugh's son. |
| Philip | Sassoon | Victor Sassoon's cousin. |
| Rachel | Sassoon | Became the most powerful female journalist in England. |
| Reuben | Sassoon | One of Sassoon's brothers. |
| S. D. | Sassoon | One of Elias' brothers. |
| Siegfred | Sassoon | A famous British poet. |
| Solomon | Sassoon | One of David Sassoon's sons. |
| Victor | Sassoon | David Sasson's grandson. |
| Vidal | Sasssoon | A hairstylist. |
| Jacob H. | Schiff | A German-born Jewish president of Wall Stret. |
| Haile | Selassi | Former Emperor of Ethiopia. |
| Val | Seymour | Victor Sssoon's pseudonym. |
| George Bernard | Shaw | An Irish playwrifgt. |
| Robert | Shewan | Elly's longtime partner. |
| Yuan | Shikai | Former President of the Republic of China. |
| Wallis | Simpson | King Edward VIII's wife. |
| Zau | Sinmay | A Chinese writer. |
| Whitey | Smith | A jazz drummer and bandleader. |
| Edgar | Snow | American journalist. |
| Charles | Soong | Soong Qing-ling's father. |
| T. V. | Soong | China's finance minister. |
| Joseph | Stilwell | U. S. Army General. |
| August | Stinberg | A Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. |
| Katherine | Stinson | First woman to fly to Shanghai from England. |
| Chiune | Sugihara | Japanese diplomat, Righteous Among the Nations. |
| Han | Suyin | A left-wing writer. |
| Margaret | Thatcher | Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. |
| Getulio | Vargas | Brazil's president. |
| Diego | Velasquez | A Spanish painter. |
| Serge | Voronoff | A Russian-born surgeon. |
| Albert C. | Wedemeyer | American commander in China. |
| Theodore | White | Time Magazine correspondent. |
| Deng | Xiaoping | Served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China. |
| Lu | Xun | A Chinese leftist writer. |
| Sun | Yat-sen | Chinese revolutonary statesman. |
| Ling | Ying | Lawrence's closest servant. |
| Rong | Yiren | Former Vice-President of the People's Republic of China. |
| Samuel | Zacharia | David Sassoon's friend and fellow middle eastern trader. |
| Mao | Zedong | Former President of the People's Republic of China. |
| Jiang | Zemin | Former President of the People's Republic of China. |
| Lin | Zexu | Former Viceroy of Huguang. |
| Rong | Zongjing | A Chinese industrialist. |
| Abdullah | | David Sassoon's oldest son. |
| Ai-ling | | Soong Qing-ling's third sister. |
| Albert Edward | | Prince of Wales. aka: Bertie. |
| Benjamin | | Elly's co-trader. |
| Dowager Cixi | | Former Empress dowager of the Qing dynasty. |
| El Greco | | A Greek painter. |
| Elias | | One of David Sassoon's sons. |
| Ellis | | Elly Kadoorie's brother. |
| Flora | | Solomon Sassoon's wife. |
| Frederick the Great | | Former King of Prussia. |
| Fu | | A refugee farmer. |
| Helen | | Emily Hahn's sister. |
| Horace | | One of Elly and Laura's sons. |
| King Faisal | | Former King of Saudi Arabia. |
| King George III | | Former King of the United Kingdom. |
| King George V | | Former King of the United Kingdom. |
| Laura | | Elly Kadoorie's wife. |
| Lawrence | | Elly Kadoorie's eldest son. |
| Michael | | Elly's grandson. |
| Michael | | One of Muriel and Lawrence's children. |
| Moses | | Elly's older brother. |
| Nebuchadnezzar | | King of Babylon. |
| Paul | | Erich's brother. |
| Queen Elizabeth | | Former Queen of the United Kingdom. |
| Queen Victoria | | Former Queen of the United Kingdom. |
| Quianlong | | Chinese emperor. |
| Reginald | | David Sassoon's grandson. |
| Rita | | One of Muriel and Lawrence's children. |
| Salih | | Rima Kadoorie's husband. |
| Victor | | One of Elly and Laura's sons. |
