The English Concubine

In the final volume of ‘The Straits Quartet,’ Charlotte’s love affair wiht Zhen, a wealthy Chinese merchant, is an open scandal. Singapore in 1860 is a vice-ridden town filled ‘with the dregs of humanity from two continents’. Opium makes up half of the British Empire’s trade in the East and, from Singapore, the Chinese triads control its distribution, with turf wars found on the streets of Chinatown. The colonial government, impoverished and ineffectual, can do nothing about it. Only the Chinese godfather, the Lord of Kongsi, has that power through his control of the coolie, prostitute and opium trade.