Foul Lady Fortune is set against the backdrop of 1930s Shanghai and draws much of its inspiration from actual events that occurred in the city during that decade. In many ways, Shanghai was an anomaly compared to the rest of the country. Situated on China’s central coast, Shanghai had long been a trading city that received goods from all parts of America, Europe, and Asia. As a result, it housed a heterogeneous population of locals and merchants from the West. By the 1930s, Shanghai was experiencing an economic boom and housed a population of three million, making it the fifth-largest city in the world. In addition, it was notorious for vice. By the turn of the 20th century, the city had already become an international center for opium smuggling. Unsurprisingly, powerful gangs rose to prominence to control these activities. In this respect, the novel’s focus on gangsters competing for power is historically accurate.

The 1911 Revolution ended imperial control of the country when the Nationalists took power. In Shanghai, the government learned to rely on mobsters to maintain political control. The Green Gang became the government’s law enforcement branch. Their activities are echoed in the novel’s fictional Scarlet Gang. Another of the novel’s parallels to historical events is the strong presence of Russian nationals in Shanghai.