Fictionalisation of Real Events
Several historical events are loosely portrayed in The Blue Lotus:
| Mitsuhirato and his accomplices blow up the railway line between Shanghai and Nanking. | This parallels the real-life Mukden Incident of 18 September 1931, which however took place some six hundred miles to the north. |
| As a result, the Japanese government invades China, occupying Shanghai, ostensibly to restore order. | Manchuria was invaded by the Japanese from September 1931 onward, and Shanghai was attacked in early 1932 though it was not fully conquered until November 1937. |
| Following Tintin's defeat of Mitsuhirato's drug-running gang, a League of Nations investigation begins into the Shanghai-Nanking railway incident, which results in Japanese withdrawal from the League. | The historical counterpart was the Lytton Commission, which began in December 1931; Japan withdrew from the League of Nations on 27 March 1933. |
Read more about this topic: The Blue Lotus
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