China Eating & Travel

Shanghai is an intoxicating mix of sophisticated, rustic, Western and Eastern. It is where gangsters, artists, criminals, the rich and the poor sought refuge in the 1800s. From 1840-1940 Shanghai developed into what it is today due to the opium wars. From 1730 to 1839 the British sold Indian grown opium to the Chinese. When the government realised the detrimental effects on its citizens, it stopped importation of opium. The British didn't want to stop supply of opium as it earned them such a significant sum so they went to war over it.