Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress characters

Also known as the narrator

Appears from the start

A teenage violinist from Chengdu, sent to a remote mountain village because his educated parents have been condemned as enemies of the Cultural Revolution. More observant and cautious than Luo, he narrates their re-education and uses music and storytelling to make their isolation bearable.

Appears from the start

The narrator's closest friend and fellow exile, the teenage son of a dentist who once treated prominent political leaders. Quick-witted, daring, and a gifted storyteller, Luo is determined to survive re-education and becomes fascinated by the tailor's daughter in a neighboring village.

Also known as the Little Seamstress

Appears from the start

The daughter of the traveling tailor who serves the villages around Phoenix Mountain. Lively, curious, and more open to the wider world than her isolated surroundings suggest, she attracts Luo and listens eagerly when the two city boys retell films and stories.

Also known as the Chief

Appears from the start

The headman of the mountain village to which Luo and the narrator are assigned. Suspicious of educated city habits and responsible for enforcing political discipline, he controls their work and movements but can also be swayed when their unusual skills are useful to the village.

Appears from the start

Another city youth undergoing re-education on Phoenix Mountain. Anxious to complete a politically acceptable collection of local songs and leave the countryside, he secretly guards a suitcase of banned European novels that Luo and the narrator desperately want to read.

Also known as the Tailor

Appears from the start

The Little Seamstress's father, an itinerant craftsman whose sewing machine and skill give him unusual status among the mountain communities. He enjoys the city boys' stories and carries fashions and news from village to village.

First appears in chapter 2

An elderly resident of the mountain region whose traditional songs become important to Four-Eyes's attempt to collect approved folk material. His encounter with the city youths exposes the gap between living rural culture and the politically useful version Four-Eyes hopes to report.

First appears in chapter 3

A doctor in the nearby town whom the narrator approaches during a crisis. His professional knowledge is essential, but political suspicion makes helping dangerous; literature becomes the basis on which the narrator wins his cooperation.