To give you some idea of the buildings, people and events that I describe in The Shanghai Circle, I have available some descriptions, backed by photographs, of the life in Shanghai and Hong Kong in the 1930s.

I have incorporated some actual facts into my novel and hopefully, these photos bring realism to my story

Film of Shanghai in the 1930’s – an amateur film but it gives a good idea of what life in Shanghai was like nearly 100 years ago.

Another film of when the Japanese invaded.

The Bund and Cathay Hotel feature in many places throughout my novel. For example, Davina lunched at the Cathay while Irina was seduced there by the leader of the triads.

Child Labour, Beggars and Coolies who are a sad but actual backdrop of what Shanghai was like as described in my novel.

Typhoon in Hong Kong 1937 was an actual event where 11,000 people died and also has a dramatic effect on my story,

Accidental Bombing of Shanghai on 14th August 1937 was another dreadful actual happening when Chinese planes mistakenly dropped bombs on the city they were defending. This killed one of the characters in my novel.

Invasion by Japanese shows the panic as the Japanese enter the city.

Here is a long youtube video of the invasion

However, there is also a youtube video that is worth watching and this video as well

My thanks to the wonderful site Virtual Shanghai, whose thousands of old photos have helped me add realism to this site.

To give you some idea of the buildings, people and events that I describe in my stories I have made available some descriptions, backed by photographs and videos, of life in Shanghai and Hong Kong during the period of my novels. This site contains some copyrighted material that is made available in an effort to advance understanding of the history of China and Hong Kong, which I feel constitutes ‘fair use’ of such material under US Copyright Law. If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from ‘Chinese Circles’ please contact me.