Kou, Shuurei

紅秀麗

Shuurei Kou is the only child and daughter of Shouka Kou, a member of the Kou clan, which ranks among the two most powerful clans in Saiunkoku. She is sixteen years old at the start of the story. As a descendant of the direct line, she holds the title hime, meaning "princess" or "lady." Despite her family's high social status, Shuurei was raised in relatively poor conditions. Her father's position provided little income, and much of the family home's wealth was donated to the needy during the devastating struggle for the imperial succession eight years prior. The Kou residence employs no servants, so Shuurei has become skilled in household chores such as needlework, cooking, and cleaning, which are unusual traits for a lady of high social standing. She has also taken on various odd jobs to earn money, including working as a professional erhu player, serving as an accountant at Kochou's brothel in the Red Light District, and teaching at the local temple.
In the English version, her name is Shurei Hong because Kou is another family name in the series. The name Kou corresponds to two different kanji symbols in Japanese, one red and the other yellow, which explains why two families share the same romanized name. To avoid confusion, "Hong" was assigned to Shurei's family, matching the Mandarin Chinese reading.