The Shadow of Weng-Chiang (novel)

The Shadow of Weng-Chiang was the twenty-fifth novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It was written by David A. McIntee.

As the name implied, it was a sequel to The Talons of Weng-Chiang, if an indirect one. Set during the Fourth Doctor and Romana I's quest for the Key to Time, it also served as something of a bookend to that earlier television serial. Whereas the serial had featured expatriate Chinese in London, the novel was set mostly in Shanghai. Moreover, because of the franchise's obvious British bias, Shadow is one of the few Doctor Who stories in any media to deal with the runup to World War II in Asia — much less the Chinese perspective on the coming war.

Publisher's summary

 * "They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. If I'm right, then a journey of a thousand miles will take but a single step."

The search for the fourth segment of the Key to Time brings the TARDIS to 1930s Shanghai: a dark and shadowy world, riven by conflict and threatened by the expansion of the Japanese Empire. Meanwhile, the savage Tongs pursue their own mysterious agenda in the city's illegal clubs and opium dens.

Manipulated by an elusive foe, the Fourth Doctor is obliged to follow the Dragon Path - the side-effect of a disastrous experiment in the far future.

But would two segments of the Key be on the same planet? Is the Black Guardian behind the dark schemes of the beautiful Hsien-Ko? And who is the small child who always accompanies her?

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * Romana
 * K9
 * Hsien-ko Chang
 * Mr Sin
 * Lucas Seyton
 * Sung-Chi Li
 * Yan Cheh
 * Kwok
 * Vogler
 * Woo

The Doctor

 * The Doctor is a competent fighter.
 * The Doctor notes that he cannot remember his real name as it has been so long since he's used it.
 * In Shanghai in 1941, the Doctor assisted a group of stranded Alpha Centaurans return home.
 * Jesse James taught the Doctor how to slip out of handcuffs.

Individuals

 * Romana demonstrates she can sing. She dislikes being called Romana, but tolerates it in preference to "Romy" or any other version of her proper name.
 * K9 can climb stairs, but it takes a great deal of time and energy.
 * The Doctor refers to Professor Marius, the creator of K9 Mark I.
 * Magnus Greel
 * Romana mentions zero-point energy as described by Nikola Tesla.
 * Romana won the Time Lord Academy marksmanship trophy.

Locations

 * Henry Gordon Jago sold the Palace Theatre as a result of the scandal following the Weng-Chiang incident in 1889.

Technology

 * Zygma beam

Weapons

 * K9's laser sets Mr Sin's wooden parts on fire.
 * The Doctor again claims that the head of Cleopatra's guard taught him how to fight with a sword.

Continuity

 * This is a sequel to TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
 * The Doctor compares the quarry to how he saw the surface of Skaro (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) and the surface of Gallifrey (TV: The Invasion of Time).
 * Romana refers to Vivian Fay. (TV: The Stones of Blood)
 * Romana recalls using a gun on Zanak. (TV: The Pirate Planet)
 * The Doctor tells Romana that he once dined with Nero. (TV: The Romans)
 * The Doctor mentions that he has not been in China for centuries. (TV: Marco Polo)
 * Henry Gordon Jago sold the Palace Theatre after the defeat of Magnus Greel in 1889. (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)