Shamian Alley, Steelhead Shanghai

When I set about designing Shamian Alley, I initially thought I’d like to recreate some of the real-life grit that would have been found in a Chinatown, circa 1890 AD. An opium den seemed appropriate, but my lack of knowledge in this particular area required some research on my part. Now I can only guess how many lists my IP address appears on with various law enforcement agencies.

It seems there are many individuals out there who like to collect antique opium paraphernalia, and I can’t say that I blame them, given the artistic beauty found in many of the implements. Here’s a lovely example of just one such pipe found at Nina-Antique.com.

Many similar images can be found by searching the internet for “antique opium pipe.”

So here’s what all my research led me to create within Shamian Alley.