Opium Warfare: A Comparison of Shaojin and Trump

Opium Warfare: A Comparison of Shaojin and Trump. Shin Shaojin is the antagonist of my crime thriller novel, Opium Warfare. However, what do you really know about him besides the fact that he's the bad guy?

To be honest, I don't really dig into Shaojin's past, but tell you enough to give you an idea of the type of man he is. He is a businessman, perhaps the top businessman in all of Shaojin at the time. It isn't mentioned as to how he acquired such wealth, but he owns his own business called Shaojin Enterprises, and there are several headquarters locations throughout China, not just Shanghai. I will give you one spoiler in simple terms that Shaojin is looking to expand his business ventures by having more buildings made in Shanghai, which shows his willingness to try new things, expand, and better Shanghai. Shaojin has a background in fighting and hand-to-hand combat, but never really mentions it, as he is always looking forward to the future. He's the all business first and fun later type, but what makes him tick? Why exactly is he so egotistical and arrogant? Well, there are several factors as to why this is, which I will share.

I first took the old cliché that most big head honchos of big businesses are full of themselves and only care about making more money, and if it doesn't benefit them to some degree, they aren't interested. This can be said about Shaojin. Also, while most businessmen tend to have you speak to one of their representatives and whatnot, I sort of allowed people to be able to approach Shaojin, which means he cares what people think about him, and he's very quick to jump to conclusions and defend himself, as he doesn't want to be misconstrued. While Shaojin still cares what the everyday man has to say about him, he's quick to snap at that person and doesn't care whether or not it hurts their feelings, but in a way, he cares about his image. Shin Shaojin does business with several other corporations, and one can assume that he has business in overseas trading, real estate, and a Shanghai-esque Wall Street, all of which account for his success and wealth.

Donald Trump, we all know who he is. Donald Trump is a modern-day entrepreneur, a businessman who has a line of hotels, a clothing company, as well as many other business-type ventures. Also, as you know, he is running for president, and it's because of this that we get to hear him and how he is. If you know Trump, you know he, too, is egotistical, very rude, arrogant, and foul-mouthed. Trump thinks he's the king of swing and doesn't care if he offends people because he won't even admit to saying or doing anything wrong in the first place. Like Shaojin, he is wealthy, arrogant, and quick to defend himself, always trying to get the last word in. He believes in himself a little too much and is probably his biggest fan. Shaojin can also be said to be his own biggest fan. Does Trump make good business choices? Debatable. The problem is sometimes he goes overboard, or as any man in his position does, he jumps the gun, is quick to deliver and make points, and comes off like a total egotistical toolbag. He either tells you what you want to hear or tells you something as long as it's about him or benefits him.

A picture I created comparing Shin Shaojin to not only Trump but to Adolf Hitler as well

Now, everything I have said about Trump could be said to be my opinion, but I'm merely basing my information on what Trump himself says and the way he portrays himself. I'm not telling you anything you probably don't already think yourself. Since I talked about what I based Shaojin off of, I'll get a bit more into Trump. Do you think Trump cares about what people think about him? No, I don't think he does, and why should he? When you're that full of yourself, you only care about one person...numero uno, yourself. What does it say about him as a businessman? Well, again, I'm not downing businessmen nor am I saying they are all alike, I am merely taking the old cliche that most are arrogant, ego-driven, and while they have drive, they are all about themselves. This to me is Donald Trump in a nutshell, sure every once in a while he surprises you by doing something hospitable(whatever that may be and it looks that way but there's likely venom behind it)) but in the long run he's the epitome of what I'm talking about, a wealthy man who thinks everything he says and does is right and if you call him out on it, he's going to tell you, put you down or say whatever he has to, to make you feel bad for saying it.

Did I base Shin Shaojin on Donald Trump? No, not at all. At least not intentionally. When I created Shin Shaojin, Donald Trump wasn't even in my mind; the old businessmen of the day, such as John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford, were people I had in mind. I then took those two men, visualized them as being in another country, and then gave them flaw after flaw until I had Shin Shaojin. That was a very brief assessment of what I did. Now that I look back and see as I'm writing this article, I would say Shaojin has traits that are similar to Donald Trump. How are they alike? Well, let's go over the points:

-Ego Driven

-Arrogant

-Care what people think about them

-Are quick to defend themselves

-Wealthy

-Make points and want you to know they made it

-Tend to have slip-ups when speaking

-They think they (pardon my French) know their shit:

-They are very blunt when speaking their minds

However, while they are similar, they are also different. Aside from the obvious that one is real and the other isn't. Shaojin shows signs of weakness when someone catches him on something, he sounds lost as to what to say, gets beaten red and then decides how he wants to handle it. To put it in simple terms, Trump has one face, Shaojin has many. What it comes down to is that Shin Shaojin and Donald Trump, while alike, are also very different.

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