Born in Japan and raised in Hong Kong before moving to the United States nearly 50 years ago, Chinese-American businessman and entrepreneur Robert Wang, being both bi-cultural and bi-lingual, has a first-hand perspective of both Asian and Western cultures and their entwined history.  Since he first learned as a schoolboy how this original “drug war” formed the basis for modern Chinese politics and history, Wang had been fascinated by this pivotal period, which became the catalyst determining how modern China has been shaped – and hindered – by Western colonization. Even after settling in the United States, starting a family and becoming a successful entrepreneur and a pioneer in the aerospace industry, Wang remained an ardent Sinophile, fascinated with the lessons and impact of the Opium War and its aftermath. This passion only grew as Wang took note of the modern parallels – particularly the current opioid crisis – that echo similar events and actions from this earlier period.

Wang spent years researching the history, facts and fictions of the Opium War, talking to numerous experts on the subject, both in the United States as well as on Mainland China. In 2018 he embarked on an intensive research trip to Guangzhou (Canton), the nexus of the opium trade and the ensuing conflict, and was granted rare private tours of its museums, led by some of China’s pre-eminent scholars on the topic.

What he saw and learned provided an exceptional window into many of the elements that eventually found its way into Wang’s first book on the subject, The Opium Lord’s Daughter, a fact-based, historical fiction novel told from both perspectives – Chinese and Western – about this dramatic and history-altering conflict. Wang’s story takes the reader directly into a tale spanning two continents, vividly told through the perspective of several colorful main characters whose stories serve to illuminate both the intricacies and the sweep of this critical period in history.

Wang is a father of three daughters, a proud grandfather of three, and resides in Los Angeles with his wife Cindy.