Teacher Pan Character Analysis in The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Teacher Pan is a teacher at the orphanage where LuLing lives after Mother banishes her from the Liu home. LuLing works as his assistant and later becomes his daughter-in-law when she marries his son, Kai Jing. Teacher Pan shows LuLing kindness, love, and respect, praising her intelligence and calligraphy skills. He treats her like family even after Kai Jing’s death.

Teacher Pan Character Timeline in The Bonesetter’s Daughter

The timeline below shows where the character Teacher Pan appears in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...her to stay at the orphanage as a student and tutor, and she works as Teacher Pan ’s helper. (full context)

In addition to Teacher Pan , the monastery also employees Teacher Wang and Sister Yu. The missionary women’s names are... (full context)

Memory, Culture, and the Past Theme Icon

Teacher Pan tells LuLing she’s the best calligraphist ever to attend the school. He tells her she... (full context)

One day, Teacher Pan takes some of the older girls to the quarry at Dragon Bone Hill. The girls... (full context)

Next, LuLing recalls falling in love with Teacher Pan ’s son. Their romance begins one afternoon after class, when Kai Jing comes by on... (full context)

The next day, the newlyweds visit their in-laws. Teacher Pan laughs when LuLing visits his living quarters, serves him tea, and call him “Baba.” Next,... (full context)

...live up the mountain. GaoLing, LuLing, and Kai Jing bring the delicacies they buy to Teacher Pan ’s sitting room in the evenings. Sister Yu, Dong, and Chau join them, and Teacher... (full context)

That spring, while the students are rehearsing a scene from The Merchant of Venice, Teacher Pan bursts into the main hall and shouts that the Communists have captured Kai Jing and... (full context)

...herself so they can die together. LuLing reminds herself that she should also care for Teacher Pan and her students. Ultimately, Sister Yu is most convincing: she tells LuLing that she won’t... (full context)

...the next day to take Miss Grutoff to a prisoner-of-war camp. Miss Grutoff cries to Teacher Pan not to let the students forget the lessons of the apostles. After the Japanese leave,... (full context)

Three months after the Japanese take Miss Grutoff, Teacher Pan announces that it’s time to leave. The teachers and older students each take a small... (full context)

...some marry. GaoLing and LuLing live in the backroom of the old ink shop, and Teacher Pan and Sister Yu eventually join them. Meanwhile, Chang—the man LuLing now knows killed her father... (full context)

...Nan is still addicted to opium and informs GaoLing that he’s sold the whole shop. Teacher Pan reasons they can leave and now that the war is over, but GaoLing refuses, determined... (full context)

...been released from the prisoner-of-war camp but is very sick. LuLing, GaoLing, Sister Yu, and Teacher Pan visit Miss Grutoff, who is extremely weak and recovering at another foreigner’s house. Miss Grutoff... (full context)

...a decade before. Sister Yu ultimately became a high-ranking leader in the Communist Party, and Teacher Pan received an award in honor of his son, Pan Kai Jing, who died to protect... (full context)