PFH1186850: China: Shadow puppet scene outside a city gate, Sichuan Province, 20th century / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186859: Malaysia: Sir Tuanku Muhammad Shah (1865 - 1933), the first Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, relaxes with his bodyguards, 1903 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186868: Indonesia: Figure of Bagong, wayang kulit ('shadow puppet') character, one of the Punokawan or clown-servants of the heroes / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186870: Indonesia: Figure of Bagong, wayang kulit ('shadow puppet') character, one of the Punokawan or clown-servants of the heroes / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186873: Indonesia: Figure of Petruk, wayang kulit ('shadow puppet') character, one of the Punokawan or clown-servants of the heroes / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186876: Indonesia: Figure of Petruk, wayang kulit ('shadow puppet') character, one of the Punokawan or clown-servants of the heroes / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186881: Indonesia: Figure of Gareng, wayang kulit ('shadow puppet') character, one of the Punokawan or clown-servants of the heroes / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186893: Malaysia: A steamer bringing the mail to the interior along the Lebir River, Kelantan / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186938: China: Two fashion models in a Shanghai photographic studio, c. 1930 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1187025: Indonesia: Majapahit era bronze temple bell, East Java, c. 1480 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1187030: Indonesia: 'Candi Pasar - Ruins of the Mataram Kingom'. Johannes Muller, 1859 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1187060: China: Three prosperous merchants of Canton / Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 1861, shortly after the end of the Second Opium War (1856-1860) / Bridgeman Images

PFH1187071: Shanghai: Chorus line of Chinese starlets in the 'Bright Moonlight Singing and Dancing Troupe' c. 1930, including Zhou Xuan (third from left), the future 'Miss Golden Voice' (see: CPA0011330; CPA0011329 ) / Bridgeman Images

PFH1187073: China: Jardine Silk Factory, Shanghai, c. 1910. The European manager and his wife pose for a photograph among the rows of silk reeling machines / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185431: India / China: The 'Examining Hall' in a Patna opium factory with hundreds of opium balls prepared for use in the China trade. Lithograph, W. S. Sherwell, c. 1850 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185471: UK / England: Thomas Penson De Quincey (1785 - 1859) was an English essayist, best known for his 'Confessions of an English Opium-Eater' (1821) / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185521: China: Ye Mincheng, Governor of Guangdong Province 1848-1858, Studio of Yeh Qua (Yehqua), c. 1858 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185599: Thailand: Buddha and chedi in a temple in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185610: France: Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 - 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions 'Symphonie fantastique'. He may have drawn much of his creativity from opium addiction / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185631: China: Signing the Treaty of Tientsin, June 1858. Laurence Oliphant, 'Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857-1859', 1860 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185637: UK / China: James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin (1811-1863). As British High Commissioner in China during the Second Opium War in 1860 he infamously ordered the destruction of the Old Summer Palace (Yuan Ming Yuan) in Beijing (1860) / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185819: Burma / Myanmar: Label from a 'Double Uoglobe' Heroin brick, the most ubiquitous and best known illicit brand in the Golden Triangle region where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185821: Vietnam: A Tonkinese opium smoker cleaning his pipe, Hanoi, French Indochina, c. 1910 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1185970: China: Kunyu Quantu or 'A Map of the Whole World', Western Hemisphere, Beijing, 1674 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186030: China / USA: Publicity picture of Anna May Wong for the 1937 Paramount Pictures release 'A Daughter of Shanghai' / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186072: Vietnam: The palace of the French Governor-General in Hanoi, 1887 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186118: Iran / Persia: A decorated ceramic bowl depicting a well-to-do couple of Turko-Mongolian ethnicity. They may be nobles of the Khwarezmid Court. Kashan, c1200, late Khwarezmid Period / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186141: Burma / Myanmar: Pyu coinage from Sri Ksetra, reverse impressed with Srivasta fertility symbols, sun, moon, conch shell and thunderbolt, c. 630-830 CE / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186186: Burma / Myanmar: Court officials, Mandalay Court, Konbaung Dynasty, c. 1853-1885 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186188: Burma / Myanmar: A Brahmin priest with conch shell and sacred thread, Mandalay Court, Konbaung Dynasty, c. 1853-1885 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186305: China: Qing Dynasty rice measure or 'dou' in cypress wood, c. 1880 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186311: Japan: A traditional bucket-shaped rice measure or itto masu / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186413: Iran / Persia: Isma'il, the Persian Ambassador of Tahmasp, Shah of Persia, at the court of Sultan Suleiman I, 10th Ottoman Emperor (r.1520-1566). Engraving by Melchior Lorck (1526-1583), Istanbul, c.1559 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186419: Turkey: Selim II (r.1566-1574), 11th Emperor of the Ottoman Empire, ascends the throne, the courtiers in attendance (left plate). Miniature painting by Ahmed Feridun Pasha, 1568 / Bridgeman Images

PFH1186507: Japan: Ryo«tei Tanehiko, Japanese comic writer of the Edo period (1783-1842) / Bridgeman Images

PFH1180910: Spain: Revolutionary poster of the National Confederation of Labour, 1936, c. 1936 / Bridgeman Images