Tang Jiyao was described in colorful ways in two books by French journalist and novelist Lucien Bodard, i.e. "Monsieur le consul" ("The French Consul", 1973) and "Le fils du consul" ("The Consul's Son", 1975), based on his recollections when he was a child with his father, Albert Bodard, who was Consul of France, successively in Chengdu and in Yunnanfu (later called Kunming). In these two books there are chapters with extensive descriptions of Tang Jiyao's dealings with colonial French authorities in China and Hanoi, French Indochina, as part of his efforts to develop his drug trade to finance weapons purchases for his army while France was trying to build a railroad from Hanoi to Kunming and further to Chengdu to expand their economic and political interests in southern China from French Indochina.