to as Loyal Prince Li. Flashman says he could "feel the force that had brought him in ten years from apprentice charcoal-burner and private soldier to the third place in the Taiping hierarchy...It was there, in the cold soft voice and hard unwinking eyes; he was a fanatic of course, and a formidable one." Chen Yucheng Hong Rengan - cousin of Hong Xiuquan and Prime Minister of the Taiping movement, referred to as Hung Jen-Kan. Flashman calls him an "extraordinary man". Charles George Gordon - British army officer; Flashman meets him briefly during the destruction of the Summer Palace. Henry Loch - Secretary to Lord Elgin. Felice Beato - A semi-official photographer to the British forces of the expedition. Prince Yi Sushun Sengge Rinchen - Mongol general leading the Manchu forces, referred to as Sang Kol-in-sen. The Xianfeng Emperor - Eighth emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, referred to as Emperor Hsienfeng. Empress Dowager Ci'an Empress Dowager Cixi - Yehonala, the imperial concubine, when Flashman meets her. Flashman at one point refers to her as a monster, although he reconsiders and instead says, "With Yehonala everything was extreme; whatever she did was done with every fibre of her, and enjoyed with sensual intensity - whether it was nibbling a sugared walnut, or half-killing a partner in bed, or flaunting a new dress, or having an offender flogged nearly to death..." He later says she was one of three women he ever felt more than lust for (excluding Elspeth), the other two being Lola Montez and Rani Lakshmi Bai. She was also one of the three most beautiful people in the world according to Flashman, the other two being Lola Montez and Elspeth. The Tongzhi Emperor Prince Gong Szu-Zhan - A very tall female bandit - member of the Provident Brave Butterfly Triad. 1985 British novels Flashman novels Novels set in the Qing dynasty William Collins, Sons books Cultural depictions of Empress Dowager Cixi Novels set in Beijing