Vicki Baum, author of the acclaimed Grand Hotel, visited Shanghai in 1937. Her many friends there provided her with a wealth of information about China's convoluted politics, and the secret life and unique personalities of Shanghai—material she used as the basis of Shanghai '37 . The hotel depicted in the novel was the Cathay, which, on August 14, 1937, following the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, was attacked by a bomb. This incident, known as "Bloody Saturday," caused considerable damage and the deaths of many people. It forms the climax of Shanghai '37, a story that follows the lives of nine people to Shanghai and the hour of their death. This book, the second of Baum's "hotel" novels, was first published in America in 1939.