Kuang draws on the real-life First Opium War between China and Great Britain to write the conflict in Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. As in the novel, open conflict between the two countries began when China asserted itself against the British Empire by banning opium imports. Chinese authorities also burned tens of thousands worth of opium in Canton (Guangzhou). This turning point in power relations occurred in 1840.

In the book, Kuang creates an alternate history in which people opposed to war over opium have leverage that was not available to China and British reformers in real life. The Oxford Translators’ Revolution likely allows Robin and the Hermes Society to stave off the declaration of war against China. Robin and his cohort use magic—the art of silversmithing—to bring trade, the buildup of military assets, and day-to-day life in England to a halt because the country is so dependent on enchanted silver to function. One might say that silver, much like opium in China, makes England and its empire vulnerable to revolutionaries like Robin and populist uprisings. This dependence on silver results in Britain’s downfall, so this key historical moment in which Britain consolidates its colonial ambitions in Asia doesn’t occur in the text.