Blue Lotus

Author: Hergé
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-04-01
Features: This album can be considered a sequel. The story takes place in 1931. Here, Tintin meets Zhang, who later becomes his lifelong friend. At the same time, the disliked enemy Rastapopoulos reappears. When Hergé wrote this album, Japanese forces had occupied many parts of mainland China. In Shanghai, the major port city at the mouth of the Yangtze River where China conducted trade with the West, various international forces were vying for control, mainly dominated by the British and Americans. Hergé used this war as the backdrop and drew inspiration from certain historical events, including Japan destroying the Manchurian Railway and using it as a pretext to further invade China, to outline the undeniable historical fact of Japanese aggression against China. This fully demonstrates Hergé's extraordinary ability to skillfully blend history and fiction. It reminds us of Jin Yong. Later, Soong Mei-ling, the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, invited Hergé to visit China, but the trip was canceled due to World War II.