In my Summary and Introduction to Opium Warfare as well as a webinar I briefly described the location of Shanghai and the locations within it and why it’s important and significant to the book. Before I discuss that let me tell you of a more personal and fun reason as to why I chose Shanghai to be the books setting. Seeing that I was going to be writing a book about opium my first thoughts were that the roots trace back to China. This left me with many places to set my book. For some reason however before I even picked up an encyclopedia or a map the city of Shanghai found it’s way into my mind. Were the opium users of the past trying to tell me something?Was it because Shanghai was one of the few cities in China I knew other than the capital? It was most likely the second one but let’s go ahead and say it was the first. When I finally did pick up an encyclopedia(yes I still own one, several in fact) I looked up Shanghai to find out what it was known for, it’s population, basic stuff and as I gathered information I then looked online to look into it further. What I found not only fascinated me but made me realize that I had picked the perfect place to set my book. It wasn’t the fact that opium was prominent within Shanghai for many years but the culture of Shanghai itself and the beautiful locations within it took me on a journey to which I knew that if I enjoyed it then surely a reader would appreciate and enjoy themselves.
So what does Shanghai have to offer? Well while I haven’t been there(at least not physically) I can most certainly tell you that many of the locations used within my book are still around today and are either historical fixtures or popular places to which people converse and go to. While I could sit here and name off a few I feel like I’d be repeating myself from my Summary and Intro as well as my small Webinar on https://www.youtube.com/embed/emcpdnGszhg"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>" target="_blank">What I found When Researching My Book, so if you have a few more moments to space after reading this I suggest you check those out to get a better idea. One thing worth repeating and reading twice is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waibaidu_Bridge" target="_blank">Garden Bridge. The Garden Bridge is a historical landmark in Shanghai and was the first all-steel constructed bridge and the last camelback truss bridge in China. It is known for separating the two districts of Hongkou and Huangpu. A tragedy took place on the bridge in 1915 when the governor of Shanghai was assassinated upon it while on his way to the Japanese Embassy. It was these facts and the simple fact that I just liked Shanghai before I knew all this that made me want to use it was the setting of my novel. I think in many ways the city itself is what gives the novel it’s genre of Historical Fiction and is the reason in which a reader will be educated, well aside from finding out about opium of course. So even if you don’t plan on going to Shanghai or at least not anytime soon, think again as my book will not only take you there but you’ll feel enlightened and you won’t want to leave.
If you haven't already done so, go back and click on the links to find out more about Shanghai, the Garden Bridge, my Summary and Intro as well as a webinar on what I found while researching my book.
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