The Poppy War

The Poppy War draws from the cultural atmosphere of the Song Dynasty and the events of the Opium Wars and Second Sino-Japanese War.

Emperor Taizu founded the Song Dynasty in 960; it lasted until 1279. The Song Dynasty saw a flourishing of architecture, mathematics, art, philosophy, and astronomical, military, and literary inventions. China had complex social organization and contained several of the most populous cities in the world during this period. Leaders implemented an examination system for civil professions which, like The Poppy War’s Keju, theoretically allowed for greater meritocracy, social mobility, and equality. Religion largely consisted of Taoism, Buddhism, ancestral spirit worship, and folk religions. There was also a proliferation of smaller ethnic and religious groups, such as Southwest Asian Muslims, Kaifeng Jews, and Persian Manicheans.

The First Opium War was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and Britain. China wanted to stop the illegal opium trade run by British traders via India. Widespread opium addiction in China had led to social deterioration. Tensions escalated and various armed conflicts ensued; when a peace treaty was settled, China had to cede Hong Kong to the British, add more trading ports for British traders, and pay Britain a large fee. The Second Opium War was fought from 1856 to 1860 between China, Britain, and France. Britain exploited the Qing government’s distracted attempts to put down the Taiping Rebellion, seeking to extend their trading routes even more. France joined Britain’s military expeditions in China, which eventually resulted in the occupation of Beijing and the sacking of the emperor’s summer palace. Kuang draws parallels to both wars in her trilogy; Western countries are represented by the fictional Hesperia, and opium addiction is widespread in Nikan, especially in Rin’s rural hometown. The coup plotline in the second book, The Dragon Republic, resembles the sacking of the summer palace.

Many of Kuang’s descriptions of The Brutality of War and the Dehumanization of the Enemy are taken directly from The Second Sino-Japanese War. It was fought from 1937 to 1945 between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan; it made up a portion of the Pacific Theatre during World War II. Through the 1930s, Japanese forces captured Manchuria, Beijing, Shanghai, and finally Nanjing. The Nanjing Massacre resulted in 200,000 deaths. It is among the most brutal war crimes committed in World War II, and included mass sexual assault, killing games, arson, looting, and mass murder. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941, the United States entered the Pacific Theatre and drastically increased its flow of aid to China. The war ended after the Soviets retook Manchuria and the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing between 129,000 and 226,000 people, mostly civilians. Rin’s genocide of Mugen involves a massive explosion and a mushroom-shaped cloud of ash, a direct parallel to the atomic bombs.