China’s first shop themed around “The Adventures of Tintin” has opened in downtown Shanghai, recalling people’s memories of the past.

（The shop is located at 805 Chang'an Rd, Jing'an District.）

Fans of the Belgian comic series feel that it is no surprise that a Tintin shop is debuting in Shanghai. The fifth volume of the Tintin book series “The Blue Lotus” was published in the Belgian newspaper “Le Vingtième Siècle (The Twentieth Century)” between August 1934 and October 1935, and featured Tintin coming to Japanese-controlled Shanghai.

A Tintin sculpture numbered 001 is by the gate greeting visitors from all over the country, witnessing Tintin’s return to Shanghai on his 90th birthday. The treasure in the shop is a blue lotus lantern crafted by a late artisan. Fans may find that the lantern looks exactly the same as the one on the cover of “The Blue Lotus”. The store also features many models recreating the scenes in the book, theme T-shirts, postcards, and key rings.

（The sculpture of Tintin is very popular.）

（The Blue Lotus Lantern in “The Tintin Shop”）

“The Blue Lotus” was the first Western literature that disclosed the Mukden Incident (which happened on September 18, 1931) and other facts about the Japanese aggression against China. In the story, the author Georges Prosper Remi (known by the pen name Hergé) portrayed a true, reasonable, and culturally positive China.

While creating the story, Hergé received much help from Zhang Chongren, who was born in Shanghai in 1907 (the same year as Hergé) and was studying sculpture in Brussels when they met in 1934.

Located at 805 Chang’an Rd, Jing’an District, “The Tintin Shop”is open between 10:00am and 6:00pm during the trial operation period.(The store is closed on Mondays.)