1930's Shanghai is ground zero, if you want to REALLY understand "China" of today.
Fortunes were being made, and criminal empires were being born. And we are living in the world DOMINATED by those fortunes, and those criminal empires.
Heroin made in Shanghai, or by Shanghai gangs was being sold to American gangs. This was perhaps the third generation of sophistication after the opium trade of the century previous. Hong Kong in the post war period, and the Vietnam War period was another era of huge criminal expansion.
But it all was growing and evolving and adapting IN PARALLEL with, and under tutelage of, the far older cabal controlled entitites of Europe.
side note: Bond movie from 1974.
Man with the the Golden Gun.
HONG KONG.
Who was in the ship, partially sunken on the harbor? What could it symbolize?
What is the story behind that ship being there?
What accusations were made about how it got burned? Intentionally set on fire? Big insurance fraud?
Back to the symbolism…
What old entity is there in Asia, pretending to be sunk, but is operating, hidden in plain sight?
IDK. Lots to think about, always. So much