Empire of the Sun characters

Also known as Jim

Appears from the start

A British schoolboy growing up in the privileged expatriate community of wartime Shanghai. Fascinated by aircraft, newsreels, and the machinery of conflict, he watches the military tension around the International Settlement with an excitement that his sheltered life has not prepared him to understand.

Appears from the start

Jim's mother, part of the comfortable British society of prewar Shanghai. She shares responsibility for the household and tries to protect Jim from the dangers gathering around the city.

Appears from the start

Jim's father, a British businessman whose family enjoys servants, cars, and a large house in the International Settlement. He follows the deteriorating political situation but cannot preserve the family's security once war reaches Shanghai.

First appears in chapter 10

An American sailor and opportunist whom Jim encounters after being separated from his parents. Charming, resourceful, and always alert to a possible trade, he treats captivity as another environment in which useful objects and useful people can be exchanged.

First appears in chapter 10

Basie's American companion, a physically intimidating sailor who distrusts Jim and views the boy mainly as a burden or potential source of profit. His presence makes Basie's conditional friendliness more precarious.

First appears in chapter 16

A British physician interned at Lunghua who works in the camp hospital. Disciplined and humane, he tries to preserve standards of care and education despite shortages, and he becomes one of the adults most consistently concerned for Jim's physical and moral survival.

First appears in chapter 18

A prominent British resident of prewar Shanghai who is interned at Lunghua. Jim remembers his former social authority, while camp life reveals an older man expending his remaining energy on the fragile routines and responsibilities of the prisoner community.

First appears in chapter 20

A fellow British internee at Lunghua and a mother within the camp community. Jim observes her family as part of the crowded domestic life through which prisoners attempt to preserve ordinary loyalties under increasingly harsh conditions.

First appears in chapter 22

A Japanese noncommissioned officer associated with discipline at Lunghua. His authority over food, work, and punishment makes his visits a source of fear for prisoners already living close to exhaustion.

First appears in chapter 28

A young Japanese airman whom Jim watches near the airfield. To the aircraft-obsessed boy he represents skill, courage, and a private ideal of war that remains distinct from the hunger and coercion of the camp beside it.