Overview: The Blue Lotus is the sequel to Cigars of the Pharaoh. Tintin is in India taking a well-earned rest when the mystery of the madness-inducing poison obliges him to make his way to Shanghai. Against the backdrop of the Sino-Japanese conflict, Tintin sets to work unravelling a nefarious web of opium traffickers. A key relationship is forged as Hergé reflects his real-life meeting with the sculptor and artist Chang Chong-chen, who taught the author of Tintin about Eastern philosophy and who would become a life-long friend. Together they composed a book – a veritable duet – in which China is portrayed accurately and poetically.