Talk:Noble House (novel)

Third tai-pan
Wasn't Malcolm Struan (Culum & Tess's son) technically the third tai-pan? He wasnt officially given the title due to his age, but he had every right to call himself one in the short time he had. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jessielange (talk • contribs) 08:52, 8 October 2005.


 * Technically, Hag Struan never officially turned over power to him. In order to claim the mantle of tai-pan, he would have had to go through some specific ceremonies, swear certain oaths in front of the previous tai-pan and the compradore, etc. Gordon Chen, the compradore, lays it down to Malcolm in a letter as follows:

Facts: though you are formally my stepbrother's heir, your mother correctly says you have not undergone the obligatory ceremony, attestations, oaths and signatures laid down in my Honourable Father's Will and Legacy that are necessary before you can be tai-pan, which, to be valid, must be witnessed personally and attested to in writing as properly executed by the current compradore, who must be of my branch of the House of Chen. Only then is the chosen one the tai-pan.

Before your father died he did in fact appoint your mother tai-pan. It was correctly done in all details. I witnessed it. She is tai-pan legally and has power over the Noble House. It is true that your father and mother expected the position to be passed over to you quickly, but she is also correct that one of the tai-pan's obligations is to attest before God to the integrity of his successor, and also true the Noble House is governed only by what the tai-pan, he, or she, decides, particularly the choice and timing of any succession.


 * JubalHarshaw 17:52, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

List of Characters, Links
I don't think the long list of characters is warranted. I recommend that only the main characters be retained, and their associated one paragraph "articles" be incorporated into this article. See, for example, The Brothers Karamazov for a good article on a much more important work. Notice that even very notable characters such as Ivan Karamazov do not get their own page.--S Roper 02:23, 4 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Agree I've started a lot of merge discussions. JASpencer 20:07, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Since there didn't seem to be any objection over a month later, I merged most of the articles I could find that had tags (and one or two really stubby ones that didn't). And I agree, the long lists do need to go. I am removing the "refered" one at this time and the other one might need to go sometime as well. Radagast83 23:19, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Missing character
I'm missing out the Japanese girl that AMG was married to. She decended from Toranaga (Shogun). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.163.233.101 (talk • contribs) 18:15, 31 May 2006.


 * That would be Riko Anjin, aka Riko Gresserhoff, who is actually descended from John Blackthorne, not Toranaga Yoshi. JubalHarshaw 17:58, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:NobleHouse.jpg
Image:NobleHouse.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 14:29, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

removals from minor characters list
I am removing one-off incidental characters for balance-more important ones like Riko Gresserhoff were left off. Removed are:
 * Tom Connochie - CIA agent
 * Bill Foster - Struan agent in Australia
 * Henry Foxwell - Senior Superintendent of Traffic
 * Alan Holdbrook - Struan's stockbroker
 * Captain Janelli - Lincoln Bartlett's pilot
 * Kin Sop-ming - Member of Werewolves criminal gang
 * Mona Leung - Quillan Gornt's mistress
 * Tom Leung - Dunross' chief jockey
 * John Mishauer - U.S. Navy intelligence officer
 * Kelly O'Gorman - O'Gorman was Hag Struan's grandson through her daughter Rose. When Hag was apparently on her death bed, O'Gorman tried to force her to hand over all powers of the tai-pan to her.  When he brought her to a safe to retrieve the corporate seal-chop, she instead retrieved a loaded pistol and shot him dead.
 * Bill O'Rourke - Lincoln Bartlett's co-pilot
 * Manuel Perriera - Librarian
 * Jenny Pollard - Lincoln Bartlett's air hostess
 * Marty Povits - CIA agent
 * Sven Svensen - Lincoln Bartlett's plane steward
 * Mary Yok - Richard Kwang's niece and secretary

I am moving O'Gorman to Struans, as he is part of the timeline continuity. Chris (クリス) (talk) 06:31, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Minor characters
Another editor has removed the entire list. I will cull these for characters that, though minor, are crucial to the storyline. Chris (クリス • フィッチ) (talk) 00:45, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Geoffrey Allison - Allison is the highly competent Governor of Hong Kong. A seasoned diplomat, he is very polite and sociable, but at the same time very alert and shrewd.  He has a hands-off style of leadership, and uses his authority quietly in the background to help insure things continue running smoothly.
 * Vincenzo Banastasio - American mafioso with ties to Asian smuggling
 * Sir Dunstan Barre - Business executive
 * Sir Luis Basilio - Head of the stock exchange
 * Charles Biltzmann - Vice-president of American Superfoods
 * Barbara Chen - John Chen's overbearing wife
 * Claudia Chen - Executive secretary to the tai-pan, distant cousin to Phillip Chen
 * Dianne Chen - Dianne Mai-wai T'Chung, wife of Phillip Chen, descendant of Dirk Struan
 * John Chen - Son of Phillip Chen; director of Struan's, secretly colluding with Lincoln Bartlett
 * Pun Po Chen - Member of Werewolves criminal gang and distant cousin of John Chen
 * Sarah Chen - Phillip Chen's aunt
 * Smiler Ching - Banker, drug runner
 * Lim Chu - Alastair Struan's personal servant
 * Jacques deVille - Member of Struan's inner court
 * Susanne deVille - Wife of Jacques deVille
 * Adryon Dunross - Daughter of Ian and Penelope Dunross
 * Duncan Dunross - Son of Ian and Penelope Dunross
 * Glenna Dunross - Daughter of Ian and Penelope Dunross
 * Penelope Dunross - Wife of Ian Dunross
 * Sam and Molly Finn - Known communist sympathizers
 * Ginny Fu - Gregor Suslev's mistress
 * Andrew Gavallan - Member of Struan's inner court, brother-in-law of Ian Dunross, main character in later Whirlwind
 * Kathren Gavallan - Sister of Ian Dunross
 * Alan Medford Grant - associate of the Institute for Strategic Planning in London, and an informant for Struan's
 * Riko Gresserhoff - Wife of Alan Medford Grant, descendant of John Blackthorne
 * Martin Haply - Muckraking journalist from Canada
 * Paul Havergill - Deputy chief manager of Victoria Bank, secret ally of Quillan Gornt
 * Tang-wa Jen - Nationalist General, chief of illegal Kuomintang secret police
 * Wei-wei Jen - Lady friend of Ian Dunross, niece of Tang-wa Jen
 * Bruce Johnjohn - Assistant to Havergill and successor-to-be at Victoria Bank
 * Kin Min-ta - Head of Werewolves criminal gang
 * Koronski - Soviet chemical interrogations expert
 * Richard Kwang - Head of Ho-Pak Bank, nephew of Four Finger Wu
 * Duncan MacIver - Helicopter pilot, main character in later Whirlwind
 * David MacStruan - Distant cousin of Dunross, head of Struan's Canadian operations
 * Ming-Li - John Chen's mistress
 * Fleur Marlowe - Wife of Peter Marlowe
 * Peter Marlowe - Novelist researching a book about Hong Kong, a former English FEPOW and thinly veiled fictionalization of Clavell himself; featured prominently in King Rat
 * Lando Mata - Macao's gambling and gold syndicate boss
 * Donald McBride - Steward of the Turf Club
 * Dr. Meng - Forensic pathologist and communist sympathizer
 * Dimitri Metkin - Russian sailor and spy
 * Jason Plumm - tai-pan of Asian Properties, an ally of Quillan Gornt and a lifelong enemy of Struan's and Ian Dunross; also secretly a descendant of Tyler Brock
 * Afternoon Pok - Waiter at Victoria and Albert Hotel
 * Goodweather Poon - Smuggler
 * Venus Poon - Actress and Richard Kwang's mistress, possibly loosely based on Connie Chan Po-chu
 * Richard Hamilton Pugmire - Tai-pan of H.K. General Stores
 * Orlanda Ramos - Former mistress, assistant to Quillan Gornt
 * Stanley Rosemont - CIA Deputy Director of Station
 * Edward Sinders - Head of MI-6
 * Donald C.C. Smyth - Corrupt police inspector, nicknamed "The Snake"
 * Ishwar Soorjani - Indian moneylender and stockbroker
 * Joseph Stern - Quillan Gornt's stockbroker
 * Alastair Struan - Ninth tai-pan, born 1900
 * Linbar Struan - Member of Struan's inner court
 * Gregor Suslev - Captain of Soviet spy ship, KGB Colonel who flees from Hong Kong after a natural disaster, leading Roger Crosse to believe him dead, character in later Whirlwind
 * Ah Tam - Old refugee woman who works with street criminals
 * Pockmark Tang - Smuggler
 * Tang-po - Police sergeant, Dragon of triad controlling street gambling
 * Shitee T'Chung - Business leader, descendant of Dirk Struan through May-may
 * Hiro Toda - Japanese shipping magnate, descendant of Toda Buntaro
 * Tok-toh Tip - Chinese presumed to work for Bank of China
 * Alexi Travkin - Russian noble in exile, Dunross' trainer
 * Tsu-yun - Chinese businessman, thorium smuggler
 * Zeppelin Tung - Son of Tightfist Tung
 * Igor Voranski - Russian sailor, actually Major Yuri Bakyan of the KGB
 * P.B. White - Mysterious bank executive and Struan ally
 * Sandra Yi - Ian Dunross' personal secretary

Miniseries article
Yeah, I know this is the article for the book, but could someone come on over to Noble House (TV series) and help me out? Now that it's been released in North America on DVD, I figure it should have a better article. LonelyPker (talk) 16:57, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Is a topic missing from the plot section
OK, I have a confession to make, I've never read the book. I am here actually for the TV miniseries, but since that article is so small, I came here. And I didn't watch the series either, except one episode and that was long ago. So I was talking about old TV shows and someone mentioned one in which the main character had to do a favor to everyone who had a coin. And this is what I remember of the series. So I dug a little in the imbd and found only a quote of the main character saying: "To whomsoever gives me the other half of any of these coins, I will grant one favor." And the cover of the book which featured does present one such coin. So my point is, shouldn't this be mentioned or clarified in the plot section? I would do it myself if only I had read the novel and had a clue about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.246.7.138 (talk) 16:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)


 * You have a very good point here. The plot is barely summarized at all. At some point, the plot section turned into an unsourced history review of Mr. Clavell's influences. This requires significant cleanup to restore a decent summary of the plot. Wellspring (talk) 17:05, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Banks in the novel
There is a good description of what real companies the fictional companies are based on. But does anyone have any information on what Banks the fictional Banks (Victoria, BLCS, and Ho-Pak) are based on?

130.32.42.1 (talk) 16:27, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I would have a guess at the Victoria being The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (now part of HSBC), BLCS being Standard Chartered Bank, and HoPak being Hnag Seng Bank (When Hang Seng bank suffered a run on its deposits in 1965, HSBC came to the rescue, buying up a 51 percent share in Hang Seng, the equivalent of £200 million at the time). Hope this helps and if someone wants to add this to the main article as I don't have the knowledge.
 * 130.32.42.1 (talk) 09:06, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Article desperately overuses the word, "Desperately."
And Desperately So. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.218.86.80 (talk) 11:45, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

"...Queen of England [sic]..."?
Is the word 'sic' in the original quotation or was it added by an author of this article? Was there a mistake that has been corrected? She is indeed the Queen of England, per List of titles and honours of Elizabeth II --142.163.194.167 (talk) 00:43, 11 March 2022 (UTC)