Hubbry Logo
Fu ManchuFu ManchuMain
Open search
Fu Manchu
Community hub
Fu Manchu
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something
Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Dr Fu Manchu
Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu in the 1932 film The Mask of Fu Manchu
First appearance"The Zayat Kiss" (1912)[1]
Last appearanceEmperor Fu Manchu (1959)
Created bySax Rohmer
Portrayed by
Voiced by
In-universe information
GenderMale
TitleDoctor
OccupationMad scientist, supervillain, assassin, crime boss
AffiliationSi-Fan
FamilyFah Lo Suee (daughter)
NationalityChinese Manchu

Dr Fu Manchu (Chinese: 傅滿洲/福滿洲; pinyin: Fú Mǎnzhōu) is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic strips and comic books for over 100 years, and he has also become an archetype of the evil criminal genius and mad scientist, while lending his name to the Fu Manchu moustache.

Background and publication

[edit]

According to his own account, Sax Rohmer decided to start the Dr Fu Manchu series after his Ouija board spelled out C-H-I-N-A-M-A-N when he asked what would make his fortune.[2] Clive Bloom argues that the portrait of Fu Manchu was based on the popular music hall magician Chung Ling Soo, "a white man in costume who had shaved off his Victorian moustache and donned a Mandarin costume and pigtail".[3] As for Rohmer's theories concerning "Eastern devilry" and "the unemotional cruelty of the Chinese",[4] he sought to give them intellectual credentials by referring to the travel writing of Bayard Taylor.[5] Taylor was a would-be ethnographer who, though unversed in Chinese language and culture, used the pseudo-science of physiognomy to find in the Chinese race "deeps on deeps of depravity so shocking and horrible, that their character cannot even be hinted".[6] Rohmer's protagonists treat him as an authority.

Fu Manchu first appeared in Rohmer's short story "The Zayat Kiss" (1912).[1] It and nine further stories were later collected into the 1913 novel The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu.[1] Two more series were collected into The Devil Doctor (1916) and The Si-Fan Mysteries (1917), before the character entered a 14-year absence.[1] Following 1931's The Daughter of Fu-Manchu, Rohmer wrote nine more Fu Manchu novels before his death in 1959.[1] Four previously published stories were posthumously collected into The Wrath of Fu-Manchu (1973).[1] In total, Rohmer wrote 14 novels concerning the character.[7] The image of "Orientals" invading Western nations became the foundation of Rohmer's commercial success, being able to sell 20 million copies in his lifetime.[8]

Characters

[edit]

Dr Fu Manchu

[edit]

Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, ...Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present ...Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr Fu-Manchu, the Yellow Peril incarnate in one man.

—The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu

Supervillain Dr Fu Manchu's murderous plots are marked by the extensive use of arcane methods; he disdains guns or explosives, preferring dacoits (armed robbers in India), Thugs (professional robbers and murderers in India) and members of other secret societies as his agents (usually armed with knives) or using "pythons and cobras ... fungi and my tiny allies, the bacilli ... my black spiders" and other peculiar animals or natural chemical weapons. He has a great respect for the truth (in fact, his word is his bond), and uses torture and other gruesome tactics to dispose of his enemies.[9]

Dr Fu Manchu is described as a mysterious villain because he seldom appears on the scene. He always sends his minions to commit crimes for him. In the novel The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu, he sends a beautiful young girl to the crime scene to see that the victim is dead. He also sends a dacoit to attack Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr Petrie.

In the novel Fu Manchu's Bride (1933), Dr Fu Manchu claims to hold doctorates from four Western universities, while in Emperor Fu Manchu (1959), he states that he attended Heidelberg University, the Sorbonne and the University of Edinburgh. (In the film The Mask of Fu Manchu, however, he states proudly that "I am a doctor of philosophy from Edinburgh, a doctor of law from Christ's College, a doctor of medicine from Harvard. My friends, out of courtesy, call me 'Doctor'".) At the time of their first encounter (1911) Dr Petrie believed that Dr Fu Manchu was more than 70 years old. That would mean that he studied for his first doctorate in the 1860s or 1870s.

According to Cay Van Ash, Rohmer's biographer and former assistant who became the first author to continue the series after Rohmer's death, "Fu Manchu" was a title of honor, which referred to "the warlike Manchu".[citation needed] Van Ash speculates that Dr Fu Manchu was a member of the imperial family of China who backed the losing side in the Boxer Rebellion.[citation needed] In the early books (1913–1917), Dr Fu Manchu is an agent of a Chinese tong, known as the Si-Fan, and acts as the mastermind behind a wave of assassinations targeting Westerners living in China. In the later books (1931–1959), he has gained control of the Si-Fan, which has been changed from a mere Chinese tong into an international criminal organization under his leadership. In addition to attempting to take over the world and restore China to its former glory (Dr Fu Manchu's main goals right from the beginning), the Si-Fan now also tries to eliminate fascist dictators and halt the spread of communism around the globe, for its leader's own selfish reasons. Dr Fu Manchu knows that both fascism and communism present major obstacles to his plans for world domination. The Si-Fan is largely funded through criminal activities, particularly the drug trade and human trafficking. Dr Fu Manchu has extended his already considerable lifespan by use of the elixir of life, a formula that he has spent decades trying to perfect.

Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr Petrie

[edit]
Denis Nayland Smith in The Mask Of Dr Fu Manchu (1951), art by Wally Wood.

Opposing Dr Fu Manchu in the stories are Sir Denis Nayland Smith and, in the first three books, Dr Petrie. Petrie narrates the first three novels. (The later novels are narrated by various other characters allied with Smith right up to the end of the series.) Smith carries on the fight, combating Dr Fu Manchu more by sheer luck and dogged determination than intellectual brilliance except in extremis. Smith and Dr Fu Manchu share a grudging respect for one another, as each believes that a man must keep his word, even to an enemy.

In the first three books, Smith serves in the Indian Imperial Police as a police commissioner in Burma who has been granted a roving commission, allowing him to exercise authority over any group who can help him in his mission. When Rohmer revived the series in 1931, Smith, who has been knighted for his efforts to defeat Fu Manchu, is an ex-Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard. He later accepts a position with MI6. Several books have him placed on special assignment with the FBI.

Kâramanèh

[edit]

Many there are, I doubt not, who will regard the Eastern girl with horror. I ask their forgiveness in that I regarded her quite differently. No man having seen her could have condemned her unheard. Many, having looked into her lovely eyes, had they found there what I found, must have forgiven her almost any crime.

—The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu

Prominent among Dr Fu Manchu's agents is the "seductively lovely" Kâramanèh. Her real name is unknown. She was sold to the Si-Fan by Egyptian slave traders while she was still a child. Kâramanèh falls in love with Dr Petrie, the narrator of the first three books in the series, and rescues Petrie and Nayland Smith many times. Eventually the couple are united and she wins her freedom. They marry and have a daughter, Fleurette, who figures in two later novels, Fu Manchu's Bride (1933) and its sequel, The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934). Lin Carter later created a son for Dr Petrie and Kâramanèh.

Fah Lo Suee

[edit]
Fah Lo Suee on the cover of The Mask of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer. Illustration by Ronnie Lesser, 1962.

Dr Fu Manchu's daughter, Fah Lo Suee, is a devious mastermind in her own right, frequently plotting to usurp her father's position in the Si-Fan and aiding his enemies both within and outside the organization. Her real name is unknown; Fah Lo Suee was a childhood term of endearment. She is introduced anonymously while still a teenager in the third book in the series and plays a larger role in several of the titles of the 1930s and 1940s. She is known for a time as Koreani after being brainwashed by her father, but her memory is later restored. Like her father, she takes on false identities, among them Madame Ingomar, Queen Mamaloi and Mrs van Roorden. In films she has been portrayed by numerous actresses over the years. Her character is usually renamed in film adaptations because of difficulties with the pronunciation of her name. Anna May Wong played Ling Moy in Daughter of the Dragon (1931). Myrna Loy portrayed the character (as Fah Lo See) in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932). Gloria Franklin had the role of Fah Lo Suee in Drums of Fu Manchu (1940). Laurette Luez played Karamaneh in The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu (1956), but the character owed more to Fah Lo Suee than to Rohmer's depiction of Kâramanèh. Tsai Chin portrayed Dr Fu Manchu's daughter Lin Tang in the five Christopher Lee films of the 1960s.[10][11]

Books

[edit]

Sax Rohmer

[edit]
  • The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (1913) (U.S. title: The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu)
  • The Devil Doctor (1916) (U.S. title: The Return of Dr Fu-Manchu)
  • The Si-Fan Mysteries (1917) (U.S. title: The Hand of Fu-Manchu)
  • Daughter of Fu Manchu (1931)
  • The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
  • The Bride of Fu Manchu (1933) (U.S. title: Fu Manchu's Bride)
  • The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934)
  • President Fu Manchu (1936)
  • The Drums of Fu Manchu (1939)
  • The Island of Fu Manchu (1941)
  • Shadow of Fu Manchu (1948)
  • Re-Enter Dr Fu Manchu (1957) (U.S. title: Re-Enter Fu Manchu)
  • Emperor Fu Manchu (1959), Rohmer's last novel published before his death
  • The Wrath of Fu Manchu (1973), a posthumous anthology containing the title novella, first published in 1952, and three later short stories: "The Eyes of Fu Manchu" (1957), "The Word of Fu Manchu" (1958), and "The Mind of Fu Manchu" (1959).

Cay Van Ash

[edit]
  • Ten Years Beyond Baker Street (1984), the first of two authorised continuation novels by Cay Van Ash, Sax Rohmer's former assistant and biographer; set in early 1914, it sees Dr Fu Manchu come into conflict with Sherlock Holmes.
  • The Fires of Fu Manchu (1987), the second authorized continuation novel by Cay Van Ash; it is set in 1917, and documents Smith and Petrie's encounter with Dr Fu Manchu during the First World War, culminating in Smith's knighthood.
  • A third continuation novel, The Seal of Fu Manchu, was underway when Van Ash died in 1994 and it is believed to be lost.

Other authors

[edit]
  • The Terror of Fu Manchu (2009), the first of three authorised continuation novels by William Patrick Maynard; it expands on the continuity established in Van Ash's books and sees Dr Petrie teaming with both Nayland Smith and a Rohmer character from outside the series, Gaston Max, in an adventure set on the eve of the First World War
  • The Destiny of Fu Manchu (2012), the second authorised continuation novel by William Patrick Maynard, set between Rohmer's The Drums of Fu Manchu and The Island of Fu Manchu on the eve of the Second World War; it follows the continuity established in Maynard's first novel
  • The Triumph of Fu Manchu (announced), the third authorised continuation novel by William Patrick Maynard, set between Rohmer's The Trail of Fu Manchu and President Fu Manchu
  • The League of Dragons by George Alec Effinger, an unpublished and unauthorised novel, narrated by Conan Doyle's character Reginald Musgrave, involving a young Sherlock Holmes matching wits with Dr Fu Manchu in the 19th century, of which two chapters have been published in the anthologies Sherlock Holmes in Orbit (1995) and My Sherlock Holmes (2003)

Dr Fu Manchu also makes appearances in the following non-Fu Manchu/Rohmer works:

  • "Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong" and "Part of the Game", a pair of related short stories by F. Paul Wilson in his collection Aftershocks and Others: 19 Oddities (2009), featuring anonymous appearances by Fu Manchu and characters from Little Orphan Annie
  • Several stories in August Derleth's detective series Solar Pons, in which he appears as "the Doctor"; Derleth's successor, Basil Copper, also made use of the character.
  • Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick (1976), in which he is the Chinese ambassador
  • The Destroyer #83, Skull Duggery (1976), in which It is revealed that Chiun, the Master of Sinanju has worked for the Devil Doctor, as have previous generations of Masters.
  • Kim Newman's Anno Dracula (1992), in which he appears as the leader of the Si Fan and chief crime lord of London, referred to as "The Lord of Strange Deaths".
  • Ben Aaronovitch's series Rivers of London, in which Fu Manchu is a charlatan and con man rather than a supervillain, a Canadian married to a Chinese wife and only pretending to be Chinese himself; the grand criminal schemes attributed to him are mere myths concocted either by himself or by the sensationalist press and publicity-seeking police officers, the latter partly motivated by anti-Chinese prejudice.

Actors

[edit]

Actors who have played Dr Fu Manchu:

Actors who have played Dr Petrie:

  • H. Humberston Wright in The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu (1923) and The Further Mysteries of Dr Fu-Manchu (1924)
  • Neil Hamilton in The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu (1929) and The Return of Dr Fu Manchu (1930)
  • Holmes Herbert in Daughter of the Dragon (1931)
  • Gale Gordon in The Shadow of Fu Manchu (1939–1940)
  • Olaf Hytten in Drums of Fu Manchu (1940)
  • John Newland in Fu Manchu: The Zayat Kiss (1952)
  • Clark Howat in The Adventures of Dr Fu Manchu (1956)
  • Howard Marion-Crawford in The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967), The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968) and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)

Actors who have played Sir Denis Nayland Smith

Main article: Denis Nayland Smith § Films

Cultural impact

[edit]

The style of facial hair associated with Fu Manchu in film adaptations has become known as the Fu Manchu moustache. The "Fu Manchu" moustache is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as a "long, narrow moustache whose ends taper and droop down to the chin",[12] although Rohmer's writings described the character as wearing no such adornment.

Before the creation of Fu Manchu, Chinese people were often portrayed in Western media as victims. Fu Manchu indicated a new phase in which Chinese people were portrayed as perpetrators of crime and threats to Western society as a whole.[13][page needed] Rohmer's villain is presented as the kingpin of a plot by the "yellow races" threatening the existence of "the entire white race", and his narrator opines, "No white man, I honestly believe, appreciates the unemotional cruelty of the Chinese."[14]

The character of Dr Fu Manchu became, for many, a stereotype embodying the "Yellow Peril".[8] For others, Fu Manchu became the most notorious personification of Western views of the Chinese,[13][page needed] and became the model for other villains in contemporary "Yellow Peril" thrillers:[15]: 188  these villains often had characteristics consistent with xenophobic and racist stereotypes which coincided with a significant increase in Chinese emigration to Western countries.[citation needed]

After the Second World War, the stereotype inspired by Fu Manchu increasingly became a subject of satire. Fred Fu Manchu, a "famous Chinese bamboo saxophonist", was a recurring character on The Goon Show, a 1950s British radio comedy programme. He was featured in the episode "The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu Manchu" in 1955 (announced as "Fred Fu Manchu and his Bamboo Saxophone"), and made minor appearances in other episodes (including "China Story", "The Siege of Fort Night", and in "The Lost Emperor" as "Doctor Fred Fu Manchu, Oriental tattooist"). The character was created and performed by the comedian Spike Milligan, who used it to mock the racist attitudes which had led to the creation of the character.[16] The character was also parodied in a later radio comedy, Round the Horne, as Dr Chu En Ginsberg MA (failed), portrayed by Kenneth Williams.

Dr Fu Manchu was parodied as the fiendish Dr Wu in the action-comedy film Black Dynamite (2009), in which the executor of an evil plan against African Americans is an insidious, moustache-sporting kung fu master.[17][better source needed]

Science historian Fred Cooper and colleagues draws a parallel between narratives that COVID-19 was created by China, and the machinations of Fu Manchu, who is "expert in the deadly application of animal and biological agents" and who has been depicted on US television shows as threatening the West with lethal diseases.[18]

In other media

[edit]

Film

[edit]

Dr Fu Manchu first appeared on the big screen in the British silent film series The Mystery of Dr Fu Manchu (1923) starring Harry Agar Lyons, a series of 15 short feature films, each running around 20 minutes. Lyons returned to the role in The Further Mysteries of Dr Fu Manchu (1924), which comprised eight additional short feature films.[19][20]

Dr Fu Manchu made his American film debut in Paramount Pictures' early talkie The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) starring Warner Oland, soon to be known for his portrayal of Charlie Chan. Oland repeated the role in The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930) and Daughter of the Dragon (1931) as well as in the short film Murder Will Out (part of the omnibus film Paramount on Parade) in which Dr Fu Manchu confronts both Philo Vance and Sherlock Holmes.[21]

The most controversial incarnation of the character was MGM's The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) starring Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy. At the time of its first release the film was considered racist and offensive by representatives of the Chinese government. The film was suppressed for many years, but has been released on DVD uncut.[21]

Dr Fu Manchu returned to the serial format in Republic Pictures' Drums of Fu Manchu (1940), a 15-episode serial considered to be one of the best the studio ever made. It was later edited and released as a feature film in 1943.[22]

Other than an obscure, unauthorized Spanish spoof El Otro Fu Manchu (1946), the Devil Doctor was absent from the big screen for 25 years, until producer Harry Alan Towers began a series starring Christopher Lee in 1965. Towers and Lee made five Fu Manchu films: The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967), The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968), and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969).[23]

The character's last authorised film appearance was in the Peter Sellers spoof The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), with Sellers featured as both Dr Fu Manchu and Nayland Smith. The film bore little resemblance to any earlier film or the original books. Fu Manchu claims he was known as "Fred" at public school, a reference to the character in "The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu Manchu", a 1955 episode of The Goon Show which had co-starred Sellers.[24]

Jesús Franco, who directed The Blood of Fu Manchu and The Castle of Fu Manchu, also directed The Girl from Rio, the second of three Harry Alan Towers films based on Rohmer's Fu Manchu-like female character Sumuru. He later directed an unauthorized 1986 Spanish film featuring Dr Fu Manchu's daughter, Esclavas del Crimen.[21]

In the film Grindhouse (2007), Nicolas Cage makes an uncredited comedic cameo appearance as Dr Fu Manchu during the "trailer" for the fake film Werewolf Women of the SS, directed by Rob Zombie.

A composite character of Fu Manchu and the Mandarin, named Xu Wenwu, appears in Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Four film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, portrayed by Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The character was previously referenced in the Iron Man trilogy and All Hail the King.[25] Xialing, Wenwu's daughter and Shang-Chi's sister, was partially inspired by Fah Lo Suee.[26][27][11]

Television

[edit]

A half-hour pilot was produced in 1952 for NBC's consideration starring Cedric Hardwicke as Sir Denis Nayland Smith, John Carradine as Dr Fu Manchu, and Reed Hadley as Dr John Petrie. NBC turned it down without broadcasting it, but it has been screened at special events.

The television arm of Republic Pictures produced a 13-episode syndicated series, The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu (1956), starring Glen Gordon as Dr Fu Manchu, Lester Matthews as Sir Denis Nayland Smith, and Clark Howat as Dr John Petrie. The title sequence depicted Smith and Dr Fu Manchu in a game of chess as the announcer stated that "the devil is said to play for men's souls. So does Dr Fu Manchu, evil incarnate." At the conclusion of each episode, after Nayland Smith and Petrie had foiled Dr Fu Manchu's latest fiendish scheme, Dr Fu Manchu would be seen breaking a black chess piece in a fit of frustration (black king's bishop, always the same scene, repeated) just before the closing credits rolled. It was directed by Franklin Adreon, as well as William Witney. Dr Fu Manchu was never allowed to succeed in this TV series. Unlike the Holmes/Watson type relationship of the films, the series featured Smith as a law enforcement officer and Petrie as a staff member for the Surgeon-General.[21] Though Republic had planned to film 78 episodes for the series, a dispute with Sax Rohmer ended the series after only 13 episodes were produced.

Music

[edit]
  • American stoner rock band Fu Manchu was formed in Southern California in 1985.
  • Desmond Dekker had a 1969 reggae song titled "Fu Man Chu".
  • The Sparks song "Moustache" from the 1982 album Angst in My Pants includes a lyric "My Fu Manchu was real fine".[28]
  • The Rockin' Ramrods had a 1965 song based on the film The Face of Fu Manchu, "Don't Fool with Fu Manchu".[29]
  • Quebec rock singer Robert Charlebois included an epic three-part song titled "Fu Man Chu" on his 1972 album Charlebois.
  • Russian hardbass artist XS Project has a 2016 song named "Fu Manchu".[30]
  • American country music singer Tim McGraw published a song called "Live Like You Were Dying". The song references Dr Fu Manchu in the lyric "I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu".[31]
  • American country music singer Travis Tritt published a song called "It's a Great Day to Be Alive". Dr Fu Manchu's iconic moustache is referenced in the lyric "Might even grow me a Fu Manchu".[32]
  • Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra published a song called "La Femme Chinoise", in which they reference the supervillain: "Fu Manchu and Susie Que and the girls of the floating world".[33]
  • American rock musician Black Francis released a song entitled "Fu Manchu" on his 1993 solo album Frank Black, which references both the style of moustache as well as the character after which it was named.
  • British band The Kinks song 'The Village Green Preservation Society', released in 1968, includes a reference to Fu Manchu in the lyric "Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula".[34]

Radio

[edit]

Dr Fu Manchu's earliest radio appearances were on The Collier Hour 1927–1931 on the Blue Network. This was a radio program designed to promote Collier's magazine and presented weekly dramatizations of the current issue's stories and serials. Dr Fu Manchu was voiced by Arthur Hughes. A self-titled show on CBS followed in 1932–33. John C. Daly, and later Harold Huber, played Dr Fu Manchu.[35] In 2010, Fu Manchu's connections with the University of Edinburgh where he supposedly obtained a doctorate were investigated in a mockumentary by Miles Jupp for BBC Radio 4.[36] Additionally, there were "pirate" broadcasts from the continent into Britain, from Radio Luxembourg and Radio Lyons in 1936 through 1937. Frank Cochrane voiced Dr Fu Manchu.[37] The BBC produced a competing radio play, The Peculiar Case at the Poppy Club written by Rohmer and broadcast in December 1938. In 1939, The Shadow of Fu Manchu aired in the United States as a thrice-weekly serial dramatizing the first nine novels.[38][page needed]

Comic strips

[edit]

Dr Fu Manchu was first brought to newspaper comic strips in a black and white daily comic strip drawn by Leo O'Mealia (1884–1960) that ran from 1931 to 1933. The strips were adaptations of the first two Dr Fu Manchu novels and part of the third.[39][40] Unlike most other illustrators, O'Mealia drew Dr Fu Manchu as a clean-shaven man with an abnormally large cranium. The strips were copyrighted by "Sax Rohmer and The Bell Syndicate, Inc."[39] Two of the Dr Fu Manchu comic strip storylines were reprinted in the 1989 book Fu Manchu: Two Complete Adventures.[41] In 1940, the Chicago Tribune published an adaptation of Drums of Fu Manchu, at first it was a photo comics, but later it was illustrated by a unicredit artist.

Between 1962 and 1973, the French newspaper Le Parisien Libéré published a comic strip by Juliette Benzoni (script) and Robert Bressy (art).[42]

Comic books

[edit]
I. W. Publications' Dr Fu Manchu (1958), reprinting material from Avon Comics, cover art by Carl Burgos
  • Dr Fu Manchu made his first comic book appearance in Detective Comics #17 and continued, as one feature among many in the anthology series, until #28. These were reprints of the earlier Leo O'Mealia strips. In 1943, the serial Drums of Fu Manchu was adapted by Spanish comic artist José Grau Hernández in 1943.[43] Original Dr Fu Manchu stories in comics had to wait for Avon's one-shot The Mask of Dr Fu Manchu in 1951 by Wally Wood.[40] Fleetway published an adaptation of The Island of Fu Manchu in 1956 through their "pocket library" title Super Detective Library #9.[44]
  • In the 1970s, Dr Fu Manchu appeared as the father of the superhero Shang-Chi in the Marvel Comics series Master of Kung Fu.[40] However, Marvel cancelled the book in 1983 and issues over licensing the character and concepts from the novels (such as his daughter Fah Lo Suee and adversaries Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr Petrie) have hampered Marvel's ability to both collect the series in trade paperback format and reference Dr Fu Manchu as Shang-Chi's father. As such, the character is either never mentioned by name, or by an alias (such as "Mr. Han").[45] In Secret Avengers #6–10, writer Ed Brubaker officially sidestepped the entire issue via a storyline where the Shadow Council resurrect a zombified version of Dr Fu Manchu, only to discover that "Dr Fu Manchu" was only an alias; that Shang-Chi's father was really Zheng Zu, an ancient Chinese sorcerer who discovered the secret to immortality.[46] Later, Fah Lo Suee was renamed Zheng Bao Yu.[47][26][48]
  • Dr Fu Manchu appears as an antagonist in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Simply called "the Doctor", he is the first to steal the Cavorite that the League is sent to retrieve. He is apparently killed in the climactic battle with Professor Moriarty.
  • Fu Manchu makes a cameo appearance in an issue of the Team Fortress 2 web comics. In the comics, Fu Manchu is a spy and one of nine mercenaries hired at some point in the 1850s by twins Redmond and Blutarch Mann to fight in the "Gravel War", a conflict about the lands in New Mexico owned by the brothers.[49]

Role-playing games

[edit]

Fu Manchu appears in the adventures Night Moves and Night Live for the role-playing game Marvel Super Heroes.[50]

Accusations of racism

[edit]
The Coalition of Asians to Nix Charlie Chan members picketing the film The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) at the Hollywood Pacific Theatre

The stories of Dr Fu Manchu, both in print and on screen, have sparked accusations of racism and orientalism, from his fiendish design to his nonsensical Chinese name.[51] After the release of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's film adaptation of The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), which featured the Chinese villain telling his followers that they must "kill the white man and take his women", the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, issued a formal complaint against the film.[52][53]

Following the release of Republic Pictures' serial adaptation of Drums of Fu Manchu (1940) the U.S. State Department requested that the studio make no further films about the character, as China was an ally against Japan during the Second World War.[54] Likewise, Rohmer's publisher, Doubleday, refused to publish additions to the best-selling series for the duration of the Second World War once the United States entered the conflict.[citation needed] BBC Radio and Broadway investors subsequently rejected Rohmer's proposals for an original Fu Manchu radio serial and stage show during the 1940s.[citation needed]

The re-release of The Mask of Fu Manchu in 1972 was met with protests from the Japanese American Citizens League, which stated that "the movie was offensive and demeaning to Asian Americans".[55] CBS Television decided to cancel a showing of The Vengeance of Fu Manchu. Los Angeles TV station KTLA shared similar sentiments, but ultimately decided to run The Brides of Fu Manchu with the disclaimer: "This feature is presented as fictional entertainment and is not intended to reflect adversely on any race, creed or national origin."[56]

Rohmer responded to charges that his work demonized Asians in Master of Villainy, a biography co-written by his widow:

Of course, not the whole Chinese population of Limehouse was criminal. But it contained a large number of persons who had left their own country for the most urgent of reasons. These people knew no way of making a living other than the criminal activities that had made China too hot for them. They brought their crimes with them.

It was Rohmer's contention that he based Dr Fu Manchu and other "Yellow Peril" mysteries on real Chinese criminals he met as a newspaper reporter covering Limehouse.[citation needed]

In May 2013, General Motors cancelled an advertisement after complaints that a phrase it contained, "the land of Fu Manchu", which was intended to refer to China, was offensive.[57]

Characterizing Dr Fu Manchu as an overtly racist creation has been criticized in the book Lord of Strange Deaths: The Fiendish World of Sax Rohmer.[58] In a review of the book in The Independent, Dr Fu Manchu is contextualised: "These magnificently absurd books, glowing with a crazed exoticism, are really far less polar, less black and white, less white and yellow, than they first seem."[2]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Fu Manchu

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Dr. Fu Manchu is a fictional Chinese supervillain and criminal genius created by British author ( of Arthur Sarsfield Ward), debuting as the central antagonist in the 1913 novel . Portrayed as a tall, gaunt figure with a signature long mustache, elongated nails, and hypnotic green eyes, he commands vast resources, exotic toxins, and a global network of assassins to orchestrate plots for world domination. The character embodies the "Yellow Peril" trope prevalent in early 20th-century Western literature, reflecting anxieties over Chinese immigration, secret societies like the Triads, and geopolitical tensions following events such as the Boxer Rebellion. Fu Manchu's adversaries, primarily Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, represent British imperial resolve against Eastern intrigue, appearing across a series of thirteen novels by Rohmer spanning to 1959. While the stories popularized pulp adventure genres and inspired numerous film adaptations, they have drawn enduring criticism for caricaturing Asians as inherently devious and threatening, perpetuating racial fears despite Rohmer's claims of drawing from observed underworld elements.

Origins and Literary Creation

Sax Rohmer's Inspirations and Development

Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, who adopted the pen name (1883–1959), developed the character of Dr. Fu Manchu based on observations from London's district, home to a small community of Chinese sailors, merchants, and laborers during the early . Rohmer, who maintained an office there for business purposes, later recounted that encounters in this opium-scented enclave sparked the notion of a sinister Eastern mastermind orchestrating covert threats, reflecting reports of underground networks and exotic dangers prevalent in the area. These local impressions intertwined with broader geopolitical anxieties rooted in the "" concept, a term denoting perceived threats from Asian demographic growth, economic penetration, and organized intrigue against Western interests. This fear was vividly portrayed in late 19th-century literature, such as M. P. Shiel's The Yellow Danger (1898), featuring the villainous Dr. Yen How, and Doctor C. W. Doyle's Quong Lung series (1897–1898), depicting a Chinese criminal mastermind as the last significant Yellow Peril figure before Fu Manchu. The 1899–1901 , an anti-foreign uprising in suppressed by an including Britain, amplified such concerns by exposing vulnerabilities in imperial spheres of influence and highlighting Chinese secret societies' roles in anti-Western agitation, including attacks on missionaries and diplomats. Rohmer's portrayal channeled these tensions, portraying Fu Manchu as an agent of expansive, insidious operations amid ongoing Anglo-Chinese frictions from prior conflicts like the , which had entrenched networks of narcotics trade and espionage. Rohmer explicitly intended Fu Manchu as a "super-villain" fusing Western scientific prowess—such as chemical and biological agents—with Eastern and disciplined ruthlessness, elevating beyond mere adventure. The narrative originated as short stories serialized under the title in The Story-Teller magazine from October 1912 to June 1913, before compilation into a in 1913. This debut emphasized causal threats from organized, intellect-driven rather than random villainy, grounding the character's menace in extrapolated real-world patterns of clandestine activity.

Initial Publications and Early Reception

The first Fu Manchu novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, originated as a series of short stories serialized in the British magazine The Story-Teller from 1912 to June 1913, before its compilation and release in book form by Methuen & Co. in in June 1913. In the United States, it appeared under the title The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, published by McBride, Nast & Co. in New York in September 1913. This debut established the pulp thriller's serialized format, featuring episodic confrontations between British protagonists and the titular amid themes of and exotic intrigue. The sequel, The Devil Doctor (also published as The Sinister Dr. Fu-Manchu in the ), followed in from Cassell in the UK, continuing the rapid narrative pace and building on the initial volume's structure of interconnected short-form adventures. These early works capitalized on pre-World War I anxieties over international intrigue and "" narratives, with enabling weekly installments that sustained reader engagement through cliffhangers and escalating threats. Contemporary reception highlighted the novels' gripping suspense and atmospheric exoticism, contributing to their immediate commercial viability as Rohmer's breakthrough into mainstream popularity. The debut's fast-paced plotting drew comparisons to precedents, fostering broad demand that propelled Rohmer's output into wider magazine and book markets, independent of later institutional endorsements. By the , the series' empirical sales reflected sustained organic appeal, with Fu Manchu tales serialized in prominent periodicals like for subsequent entries, rivaling output from pulp contemporaries in circulation figures.

Core Characters and Narrative Elements

Dr. Fu Manchu: Traits and Role

Dr. Fu Manchu is depicted in Sax Rohmer's novels as a tall, lean figure with a feline grace, high-shouldered posture, a brow resembling Shakespeare's, and a face likened to Satan's, characterized by a and long, magnetic eyes. These eyes enable hypnotic influence over victims, facilitating control and . His elongated features and aged appearance belie a prolonged lifespan sustained through elixirs and scientific means, underscoring his mastery over life-extending arts. As a genius-level intellect of Chinese origin, Fu Manchu excels in abstruse chemistry, devising insidious poisons and toxins derived from exotic sources, often deployed via insidious creatures like spiders or serpents. He commands proficiency in , enabling personal combat prowess, alongside sciences that blend ancient with modern techniques. These abilities allow seamless infiltration into elite circles, disguises undetectable to foes, and orchestration of complex schemes prioritizing intellectual subversion over overt violence. In his narrative role, Fu Manchu serves as the archetypal arch-villain, heading the secretive Si-Fan society to pursue global domination through targeted assassinations of Western scientists and officials, embodying a threat rooted in cunning networks and causal manipulation rather than military force. Initially portrayed as a direct agent executing the society's directives in early novels like The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (1913), he evolves into a recurring nemesis across the series, operating with greater autonomy while adhering to a personal code of honor that occasionally spares worthy adversaries or acknowledges mutual respect. This progression highlights his function as an enduring symbol of insidious peril, with schemes adapting to contemporary geopolitical tensions, such as political intrigue in President Fu Manchu (1936), where he covertly backs a presidential candidate to advance his agenda.

Primary Protagonists: Nayland Smith and Petrie

Sir Denis Nayland Smith functions as the chief adversary to Dr. Fu Manchu throughout Sax Rohmer's novels, initially introduced as a commissioner of police in who pursues the under a special roving commission granting authority across British colonial jurisdictions. His portrayal emphasizes unyielding determination and physical capability, enabling direct interventions against Fu Manchu's agents through chases, skirmishes, and strategic maneuvers. Dr. John Petrie, a practicing physician in , serves as the narrator in the early installments of the series, chronicling events while applying medical expertise to dissect and counteract Fu Manchu's deployment of rare toxins, serpents, and biological agents. Petrie's role introduces personal vulnerability, as his romantic entanglements with figures linked to Fu Manchu's network compel heightened vigilance and add layers of individual risk to the broader intelligence operations. The dynamic between Nayland Smith and Petrie mirrors archetypal detective pairings, with Smith's proactive enforcement and Petrie's analytical documentation forming a grounded in , logical deduction, and coordination with imperial authorities. This alliance repeatedly disrupts Fu Manchu's conspiracies through verifiable intelligence and empirical countermeasures, highlighting a reliance on transparent methods over the antagonist's veiled, resource-intensive artifices.

Supporting Figures: Allies, Enemies, and Family

Fah Lo Suee, Dr. Fu Manchu's daughter, emerges as a central family figure in Sax Rohmer's 1931 novel Daughter of Fu Manchu, inheriting her father's intellectual prowess and command of esoteric secrets while pursuing independent schemes of conquest and intrigue. Portrayed as a seductive and ruthless operator, she orchestrates plots involving ancient cults and global espionage, often clashing with Nayland Smith yet demonstrating selective loyalty to her father's overarching vision of Asian dominance. Her character embodies a blend of filial devotion and personal ambition, appearing in subsequent works like The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) where she manipulates alliances to advance Si-Fan objectives. Kârmanèh, an enigmatic Eastern slave girl initially bound to Fu Manchu's service, represents a key defector whose internal Si-Fan loyalties fracture in the early novels, particularly The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (1913). Captured and coerced through the hostage-taking of her brother Aziz, she evolves from a tool of Fu's hypnotic schemes—deployed as a assassin—into a romantic interest for Dr. Petrie, ultimately aiding the protagonists in dismantling threats and securing her freedom by the narrative's close. Her arc highlights tensions within Fu's organization, as personal agency overrides enforced allegiance, recurring in later entries like The Hand of Dr. Fu Manchu (1917) where her diminished role underscores shifting dynamics among captives. Fu Manchu's allies encompass a vast network of minor enforcers, including dacoits—Burmese and Indian bandits organized in cult-like bands—who execute assassinations, , and on his behalf, as depicted in serial adaptations and original texts emphasizing their knife-wielding tactics over modern armaments. These operatives, alongside Thugs, Hashishin, and other remnants integrated into the Si-Fan, form expendable extensions of Fu's global reach, loyal through fear, opium addiction, or ideological fervor toward "" supremacy. Enemies beyond the core protagonists include opportunistic rivals within these groups, such as betrayers or independent agents targeted for elimination to maintain hierarchical control.

Primary Literary Works

Sax Rohmer's Original Novels (1913–1959)

Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels, numbering thirteen in total, began as compilations of short stories serialized in magazines like The Story-Teller and evolved into standalone works blending thriller elements with speculative threats from Eastern mysticism and science. The early entries focus on localized terror in urban Britain, with Dr. Fu Manchu deploying assassins and exotic poisons against Western imperial interests, while later volumes expand to transcontinental pursuits and geopolitical machinations, incorporating motifs like hypnotic control, synthetic drugs, and political subversion amid interwar tensions. This progression reflects Rohmer's adaptation to changing global anxieties, shifting from "Yellow Peril" intrigue to broader conspiracies involving American elections and Asian power struggles. The series commences with (1913, ; The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, 1913), a collection of tales wherein Nayland Smith investigates murders of British scientists by Fu Manchu's Burmese dacoits and Chinese agents using rare toxins like the "Zayat Kiss" of a sacred . Fu Manchu escapes in The Devil Doctor (1916, ; The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu, 1916), resuming operations from a lair with cataleptic drugs mimicking zombies and schemes to kidnap a rival inventor's daughter. In The Si-Fan Mysteries (1917, ; The Hand of Fu-Manchu, 1917), the Si-Fan emerges as Fu Manchu's organization, targeting a Eurasian heir's fortune through abductions and a network of Eurasian spies in London. After a fourteen-year hiatus, Rohmer revived the character in Daughter of Fu Manchu (1931), introducing Fu Manchu's daughter as a seductive leader of the Sublime Order following her father's presumed demise, with Smith allying against her international crime syndicate. The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) relocates the action to Egyptian deserts and a hidden African city, where Fu Manchu—revealed alive—seeks ancient masks granting hypnotic power and immortality secrets, clashing with explorers Barton and Greville. Fu Manchu's via a surgical heart transplant drives Fu Manchu's Bride (1933, ; The Bride of Fu Manchu, 1933), featuring mass hypnosis of villagers in and attempts to ensnare Petrie's daughter Fleurette. Subsequent novels intensify pursuit dynamics: The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934) spans to the as Smith tracks Fu Manchu's mountain retreat and biochemical weapons experiments. President Fu Manchu (1936) pivots to American politics, with Fu Manchu a demagogue's presidential bid through assassinations and mind control to install a regime. Wartime shadows inform The Drums of Fu Manchu (1939), where Fu Manchu offers his services against but deploys nerve gases and cults in the U.S. South. The 1940s entries globalize further: The Island of Fu Manchu (1941) unveils a fortress producing synthetic for global , pursued by Smith and new ally Markwardt. The Shadow of Fu Manchu (1948) incorporates atomic-era fears, with Fu Manchu infiltrating New York via heat rays and espionage against U.S. nuclear projects. Postwar revival occurs in Re-Enter: Dr. Fu Manchu (1957), as Fu Manchu resurfaces in Honan Province, , allying with Western agents against Soviet incursions using advanced and elixirs. The final novel, Emperor Fu Manchu (1959), returns to where Fu Manchu establishes a hidden empire in Honan's mountains, employing zombi-like slaves via Haitian voodoo derivatives and biochemical agents to consolidate power against . This installment innovates with occult-scientific hybrids, marking the series' culmination in Fu Manchu's quasi-imperial ambitions amid pre-communist Chinese turmoil.

Post-Rohmer Continuations and Expansions

Following Sax Rohmer's death in , his selectively authorized continuations of the Fu Manchu series, prioritizing fidelity to the original pulp thriller style characterized by exotic menaces, global conspiracies, and the unyielding antagonism between Western protagonists and the Si-Fan organization. These works, produced in limited numbers, avoided contemporary revisions that might dilute the character's role as a formidable Eastern adversary, instead preserving the narrative tension rooted in geopolitical rivalries and technological threats central to Rohmer's vision. Cay van Ash, Rohmer's longtime assistant and biographer, penned the initial authorized sequels. His Ten Years Beyond Baker Street (published 1976 in the UK by , with a 1984 U.S. edition), set in 1913, integrates into the Fu Manchu saga during the events of Rohmer's The Hand of Fu Manchu. Holmes assists Nayland Smith in thwarting Fu Manchu's plot to assassinate European royalty using hypnotic agents and biochemical weapons, maintaining canonical details from both Rohmer's and Arthur Conan Doyle's universes while emphasizing Fu Manchu's intellectual supremacy and occult-tinged operations. Van Ash's approach adheres closely to Rohmer's formula, portraying Fu Manchu as a calculating genius whose elusiveness drives episodic pursuits, without softening the racial and imperial undercurrents that fueled the originals' suspense. Van Ash followed with The Fires of Fu Manchu (1988), shifting to I-era intrigue where Fu Manchu deploys incendiary devices and to exploit European chaos, again featuring and Dr. Petrie as protagonists confronting Si-Fan agents. This novel sustains the pulp rhythm of narrow escapes and arcane perils, such as poisoned artifacts and subterranean lairs, while integrating historical events like the war's early battles to heighten realism. A third volume, The Seal of Fu Manchu, was announced for 1988 but remained unpublished following van Ash's death in 1994, limiting his contributions to two books that reviewers noted for their authentic replication of Rohmer's atmospheric dread and moral binaries. In 2009, the estate granted authorization to William Patrick Maynard for further extensions, resulting in three novels that extend Rohmer's later timelines into the period. The Terror of Fu Manchu (2009, Black Coat Press) revives Fu Manchu post-Emperor Fu Manchu (1959), depicting his return via cryogenic revival to orchestrate assassinations blending biological agents and psychic manipulation against Western intelligence. Subsequent entries, The Destiny of Fu Manchu (2012) and The Triumph of Fu Manchu (2017), escalate Si-Fan operations with alliances to rogue states and advanced weaponry, consistently framing Fu Manchu as an enduring threat whose ambitions stem from a realist assessment of power imbalances rather than ideological redemption. Maynard's works, praised for chronological consistency and retention of Rohmer's blend of adventure and menace, numbered only three amid estate restrictions influenced by cultural sensitivities, underscoring the challenges of extending a series tied to early 20th-century fears without yielding to sanitization demands.

Adaptations Across Media

Film and Cinema Portrayals

The earliest cinematic portrayals of Dr. Fu Manchu appeared in British silent films produced by Stoll Pictures in the , with Harry Agar Lyons embodying the character in a 1923 serial titled The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, consisting of 15 two-reel episodes, followed by Further Mysteries of Dr. Fu Manchu in 1924. These adaptations, directed by A.E. Coleby, drew directly from Sax Rohmer's novels, featuring Lyons as the sinister doctor employing exotic poisons and henchmen against protagonists Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, though production constraints limited elaborate sets and effects. Transitioning to sound era, portrayed Fu Manchu in two releases: (1929), directed by Rowland V. , and its sequel The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930), also by , with Oland's performance emphasizing the villain's hypnotic gaze and criminal network while adhering loosely to novel plots involving dens and assassinations. A year later, played the role in RKO's (1931), starring Anna May Wong as Princess Ling Moy, directed by , which incorporated elements from Rohmer's works but shifted focus to Fu Manchu's daughter seeking revenge. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's (1932), directed by and starring as the eponymous doctor, deviated significantly from Rohmer's source material by amplifying sadistic and incestuous undertones, such as Fu Manchu's threats to torture and marry his captive's son, alongside as his daughter Fah Lo See. Produced with a budget of approximately $327,627, the film achieved respectable box-office returns, capitalizing on Karloff's post-Frankenstein fame and exotic sets, though its exaggerated Orientalist tropes marked it as a product of excess. From 1965 to 1969, producer Harry Alan Towers oversaw a series of five Anglo-German co-productions starring as Fu Manchu, beginning with (1965), directed by Don Sharp, which revived the character with Lee employing mind-control gases and martial arts henchmen in plots echoing Rohmer's global conspiracies. Sequels (1966, Sharp), The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967, Jeremy Summers), The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968, Jesús Franco), and (1969, Franco) maintained fidelity to core traits like Fu Manchu's longevity elixirs and daughter (portrayed by as Lin Tang), but declining budgets led to increasingly campy execution and modest grosses totaling around $1.3 million worldwide. Subsequent attempts dwindled amid rising sensitivities, with the final notable feature, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), directed by and featuring in dual roles as Fu Manchu and Nayland Smith, parodying the archetype through inventions like a death-ray but failing commercially and halting major productions thereafter.

Television, Radio, and Audio Dramas

The primary radio adaptation of Fu Manchu was the syndicated serial The Shadow of Fu Manchu, which aired from 1939 to 1940 in 15-minute daily installments, adapting the first nine novels by and featuring as the voice of the criminal mastermind. The series emphasized Fu Manchu's insidious plots against Western civilization, with Sir Denis Nayland Smith as the recurring foe, and ran for over 200 episodes before concluding amid shifting listener preferences for shorter formats. Earlier broadcasts included a 12-episode series on in 1929–1930 and a run from September 26, 1932, to April 24, 1933, but these were limited in scope compared to the 1939 serial's extensive serialization. In 1945, Rohmer personally scripted eight radio plays for BBC featuring Fu Manchu, marking one of the last direct audio dramatizations during the post-war period, though these were not serialized and faced production hurdles from wartime resource shortages and emerging regulatory scrutiny over sensational content. Parodic elements appeared in British radio comedy, such as the recurring "Fred Fu Manchu" character on The Goon Show in the 1950s, which lampooned the archetype through absurd humor rather than faithful adaptation. These radio efforts reached broad audiences via syndication and national networks but were constrained by live broadcasting demands and the era's technical limitations, such as single-take recordings without extensive editing. On television, The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu debuted as a syndicated series on September 3, 1956, starring in the title role opposite Matthews as Nayland Smith, with each half-hour episode depicting self-contained schemes involving exotic threats like mind control or biological agents. Produced by , the program aired 39 episodes across various U.S. stations, adapting Rohmer's formula for a visual medium while toning down overt racial descriptors to comply with broadcast standards, though it retained Fu Manchu's core traits of hypnotic intellect and global ambition. The series achieved moderate syndication success but ended after one season due to rising production costs and competition from network dramas, limiting its run without recorded ratings data indicating widespread acclaim. Later television nods to the Fu Manchu archetype appeared in the 1977 serial , where producer drew direct inspiration from Rohmer's novels for the villainous Li H'sen Chang and the god Weng-Chiang, incorporating elements like a manipulative Eastern mastermind operating in Victorian London. This six-episode production echoed the narrative structure of Fu Manchu confrontations—clandestine societies, grotesque minions, and imperial intrigue—but transposed them into , airing to an estimated audience of 11–14 million viewers per episode amid the show's peak popularity. Direct Fu Manchu adaptations have seen no major revivals since the , attributable to production constraints like syndication fragmentation and evolving content guidelines that discouraged unnuanced depictions of ethnic villains in broadcast media.

Comics, Games, and Other Formats

Fu Manchu featured in early newspaper comic strips adapted from Sax Rohmer's novels. The daily black-and-white strip, illustrated by Leo O'Mealia for the Bell Syndicate, ran from 1931 to 1933 and adapted the first three Fu Manchu books into four-panel installments. These strips were reprinted in Detective Comics starting with issue #17 in 1937, marking an early comic book appearance of the character. In 1940, the Chicago Tribune published a comic strip adaptation of the Republic serial Drums of Fu Manchu, initially as a photocomic using stills from the film before transitioning to illustrated panels. In 1943, Spanish artist José Grau Hernández adapted the serial Drums of Fu Manchu. In France, over 3,000 daily comic strips adapting Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu were published from 1952 to 1964, scripted by Juliette Benzoni and illustrated by Robert Bressy. The 1951 Avon one-shot The Mask of Dr. Fu Manchu was illustrated by Wally Wood. In 1953, Super Detective Library #9 adapted The Island of Fu Manchu, with adaptation by Rex Hardinge and pencils by Philip Mendoza. In Marvel Comics, Fu Manchu appeared as the father of , the Master of Kung Fu, debuting in Special Marvel Edition #15 (December 1973), written by and penciled by . Portrayed as an immortal criminal overlord and sorcerer who trained Shang-Chi from childhood as a deadly assassin, Fu Manchu's role emphasized themes of filial rebellion against a tyrannical . The series ran through the and early , with Fu Manchu embodying a proto-supervillain archetype of global intrigue and esoteric powers. Following the lapse of licensing rights held by Rohmer's estate in the , Marvel referred to the character using aliases such as "Han" and the Comte de Saint-Germain in specific stories, before revealing his true name as around 2014 to retain the backstory without legal infringement. Fu Manchu also featured directly in the role-playing game adventures "Night Moves" (MLA2, 1990), in which the Si-Fan sought to resurrect his preserved corpse from a guarded lair through rituals using captured superhuman subjects amid rival criminal group conflicts, with Shang-Chi assisting player characters to disrupt the ceremony and confront the revived Fu Manchu—who possessed enhanced strength, hypnotic abilities, and assassin networks, allying with villains like Mentallo and the Fixer—and "Night Life" (MLA3, 1990), with plots involving the Si-Fan's attempts to resurrect him and his supernatural schemes, including kidnapping a genius to create spirit bombs for opening portals. A direct adaptation in board games is Fu Manchu’s Hidden Hoard (Ideal Toy Corp., 1967), in which players compete as treasure hunters to locate the villain's hidden hoard on an island, with Fu Manchu as the central antagonist. Direct adaptations in games remain scarce due to persistent licensing hurdles, despite the original novels entering the . Creators have instead employed indirect allusions or original figures inspired by Fu Manchu's traits, such as cunning Asian masterminds with vast organizations, to sidestep rights issues in modules and video games.

Historical and Geopolitical Context

Yellow Peril Fears and Real-World Influences

The Yellow Peril apprehensions central to the Fu Manchu series arose from late 19th- and early 20th-century geopolitical tensions, particularly following the Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901, an anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising in China suppressed by an eight-nation alliance led by Britain, which extracted the Boxer Protocol imposing 450 million taels in indemnities and concessions from the Qing government. This event amplified Western concerns over Chinese nationalism, secret societies, and potential infiltration, as the Boxers' millenarian ideology and martial organization evoked fears of organized reprisals against European powers through migration and espionage networks. British intelligence and diplomatic reports from the era documented heightened vigilance toward Chinese diaspora communities, viewing them as vectors for subversive activities amid post-rebellion instability in China. In Britain, these fears crystallized around port cities like , where Chinese sailors and laborers—numbering around 1,500 nationwide by 1911—formed enclaves in districts such as , sensationalized in police records and newspapers as centers of trafficking, , and dating back to the . drew directly from such environments, claiming firsthand observations of dens during nocturnal explorations in the early 1910s, which informed his narratives of hidden Asian intrigue within urban underbellies. Contemporary reports corroborated the prevalence of unlicensed houses in East End Chinese quarters, where smoking dens served both locals and visitors, fueling moral panics over and cultural contamination. Chinese secret societies, including Triad offshoots rooted in 18th-century anti-Qing resistance groups, were active in overseas communities for protection and extortion, mirroring the clandestine networks depicted in Rohmer's works as conduits for geopolitical . The of 1839–1842 and 1856–1860 provided causal antecedents, as British victories enforced treaties legalizing opium imports into —peaking at 80,000 chests annually by 1880—and dismantled barriers to emigration, enabling Chinese laborers to reach British shores and transplant associated illicit trades. This reversal of imperial dynamics bred resentment and fears of reciprocal subversion, compounded by East Asian powers' demonstrated technological prowess, such as Japan's 1904–1905 defeat of , which showcased non-Western naval and industrial capabilities threatening European . Rohmer's Fu Manchu thus embodied empirically grounded anxieties over asymmetric threats: dispersed immigrant networks leveraging ancestral knowledge of chemistry, , and organization to undermine Western security, rather than overt invasion.

Reflection of Early 20th-Century Anxieties

Fu Manchu epitomized early 20th-century Western apprehensions about the "inscrutable East" as a force of chaos undermining rational, ordered society, with the character wielding arcane sciences and espionage to erode imperial dominance from within. This portrayal crystallized fears of cultural , where Eastern intellect—depicted as hypnotic and amoral—clashed against Enlightenment-derived progress, mirroring broader public discourse on the fragility of Western amid colonial strains. The villain's narratives intertwined with eugenics-era preoccupations over racial integrity, amplifying concerns that intermixing with Asian populations could precipitate degeneration, as evidenced in plots involving seduction of white women and hybrid threats to societal vitality. Such motifs aligned with period scientific and editorial sentiments positing miscegenation as a vector for physical and moral decline, prioritizing preservation of purported racial hierarchies against perceived invasive influences. Rohmer's series gained marked traction in the interwar decades, with the author emerging as one of Britain's highest-earning novelists by the and , as Fu Manchu volumes achieved sales in the range of 15,000 to 20,000 copies per edition in early printings that sustained popularity. This surge paralleled real-world escalations in ethnic tensions, notably the 1919 race riots across ports like , , and , where unemployment-fueled mobs targeted Chinese seamen and residents, destroying businesses and homes in outbursts reflecting entrenched job competition and demographic anxieties. The empirical validation through bestseller status indicated these tales captured authentic public threat assessments, not escapist invention, as they echoed causal links between economic dislocation, imperial retrenchment, and fears of coordinated Eastern resurgence—exemplified by post-1919 Comintern initiatives courting Asian anti-colonial movements against European powers. Commercial resonance thus affirmed the stories' grounding in observable geopolitical frictions, where audience demand sustained serialization amid tangible societal pressures.

Controversies and Critical Debates

Claims of Racism and Stereotyping

Critics, particularly in post-1960s academic discourse, have accused Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels of perpetuating "Yellow Peril" stereotypes by depicting the titular character as a brilliant yet inherently malevolent Asian mastermind intent on global domination, thereby reinforcing fears of East Asian cultural and racial invasion in Western societies. Fu Manchu is portrayed with attributes such as hypnotic powers, scientific genius, and ruthless cruelty, often accompanied by subservient Asian henchmen, which scholars like Jenny Clegg argue constructs a mythic framework of racial otherness that dehumanizes Chinese people as existential threats rather than individuals. This characterization, emerging amid early 20th-century anxieties over Chinese immigration and imperial expansion, is said to have embedded tropes of the "inscrutable Oriental" villain in popular fiction, influencing broader cultural perceptions of Asians as cunning and untrustworthy. Adaptations have amplified these claims, with the 1932 film drawing specific condemnation for dialogue that critics interpret as endorsing racial conquest and incestuous undertones, such as Fu Manchu instructing his daughter to "kill the Englishman and take his bride" in a manner evoking white female subjugation by Asian forces. Such elements are viewed as heightening panic, contributing to an environment where anti-Asian sentiment informed policies like the during , as the archetype of the devious Asian overlord echoed in wartime propaganda justifying mass suspicion. Jenny Clegg's analysis posits that Fu Manchu's enduring image systematized these biases into a "racist ," linking fictional narratives to real-world exclusionary measures against Chinese communities in Britain and the U.S. In contemporary media, these stereotypes persist as a point of contention, exemplified by Marvel's 2021 film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which retooled the protagonist's origin to excise Fu Manchu—originally his father in comics—due to concerns over the character's embodiment of outdated and harmful Asian villain tropes. Producer emphasized avoiding such racial stereotypes in updating the story, reflecting ongoing scholarly and cultural critiques that trace Fu Manchu's legacy to persistent anti-Asian biases in Western storytelling. These arguments, prevalent in and since the civil rights era, maintain that the series' formulaic portrayal of Asian agency as predatory reinforced systemic without empirical basis in Chinese societal behaviors. ![Coalition of Asians to Nix Charlie Chan members picketing The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu][float-right]

Counterarguments: Realism in Depiction and Cultural Reflection

Defenders of the Fu Manchu narratives contend that the character's depiction, though sensationalized for , incorporates realistic elements drawn from documented historical threats posed by Chinese secret societies, such as the Triads (also known as the Heaven and Earth Society), which originated in the as anti-Qing rebels but evolved into international criminal networks by the early , engaging in trafficking, , and assassinations in Western Chinatowns like London's district. These groups' covert operations and use of infiltration tactics mirrored Fu Manchu's Si-Fan brotherhood, reflecting genuine anxieties over organized foreign crime undermining British sovereignty during an era of imperial competition. Sax Rohmer infused Fu Manchu with complexity beyond , portraying him as adhering to a personal code of honor—sparing adversaries like Denis Nayland Smith in moments of mutual respect and framing his schemes as strategic genius rather than mindless savagery—which underscores a intent to dramatize formidable and resolve, not indiscriminate . The character's proficiency in poisons and exotic toxins also echoes verifiable Chinese historical expertise in , where substances like aconite and feather-derived venoms were employed in and regicidal assassinations across dynasties, from Han-era emperors to Qing intrigues, providing a factual basis for Fu's arsenal rather than pure invention. The enduring popularity of Rohmer's series—spanning over a dozen novels from 1913 onward and inspiring widespread adaptations—indicates resonance with observed realities of geopolitical friction, including Chinese nationalist backlash against unequal treaties like the (1842) and the Taiping Rebellion's (1850–1864) chaos, which fueled perceptions of a resurgent "" through mass migration, economic rivalry, and espionage-like activities in . Dismissing these depictions as ahistorical imposes modern egalitarian norms on early 20th-century causal dynamics, where Britain's trade impositions and the Boxer Rebellion's (1899–1901) anti-foreign violence substantiated fears of coordinated infiltration and . Analyses like Christopher Frayling's The Yellow Peril: Dr Fu Manchu & the Rise of Chinaphobia (2014) contextualize such pulp as a cultural mirror to these tensions, emphasizing its role in processing imperial-era uncertainties over fabricating isolated hatred.

Enduring Legacy

Influence on Fiction and Villain Archetypes

Fu Manchu established a proto-supervillain in early 20th-century popular , characterized by intellectual brilliance, arcane methods of murder, and orchestration of international criminal networks, influencing subsequent portrayals of mastermind antagonists in thrillers. As one of the first recurring archenemies in serialized pulp literature—debuting in Sax Rohmer's 1913 novel and spanning 13 novels by 1959—the character set precedents for persistent foes who evade capture across multiple installments, predating many supervillains by decades. This model of a singular, elusive genius villain shaped conventions, emphasizing global conspiracies and exotic perils over brute force. The archetype's reach extended to spy fiction, notably informing Ian Fleming's James Bond antagonists, such as Dr. Julius No in the 1958 novel Dr. No, who mirrored Fu Manchu in his Sino-Japanese heritage, cybernetic enhancements, and schemes for world disruption from a remote lair. Fleming, influenced by Rohmer's "yellow devil" narratives, incorporated similar traits of grotesque villainy and Eastern mysticism into Bond's rogues, blending pulp exoticism with Cold War espionage. These elements helped codify the spy thriller's reliance on culturally alien threats and intricate plots, evident in over a dozen Fu Manchu film adaptations from 1923 to 1969 that popularized such dynamics on screen. This influence extended beyond spy fiction into comic books and serials, inspiring supervillains such as Marvel's , 's , pulp antagonist Fang Gow (adapted in DC Comics), early pastiche Ching Lung, and Batman's Ra's al Ghul, who share Fu Manchu's traits of intellectual genius, elusiveness, global conspiracies, and exotic mysticism, as well as film villains like Han in (1973), Christopher Lee's Chung King in (1961)—portraying similar themes of secret societies and exotic villainy as a precursor to his Fu Manchu roles—and David Lo Pan in [Big Trouble in Little China](/page/Big Trouble in Little China) (1986), embodying cunning villainy, exotic mysticism, and ancient mystical schemes. Fu Manchu's empirical legacy includes the "Fu Manchu mustache"—a long, downward-curving style from Rohmer's descriptions and 1920s-1930s film portrayals—entering as for insidious villainy by the mid-20th century. This visual trope, first recorded in English usage around 1935-1940, persisted in as a marker of cunning adversaries, underscoring the character's role in embedding archetypal imagery into Western cultural narratives.

Modern Cultural References and Reassessments

In Marvel Comics, the character Zheng Zu, introduced as the father of in Special Marvel Edition #15 (December 1973), originally embodied Fu Manchu as licensed by the Rohmer estate, featuring core elements echoing Rohmer's blueprint such as elixirs of life granting immortality, mastery of martial arts, and leadership of the Si-Fan organization as a Chinese criminal overlord plotting world conquest through and sorcery, though Marvel's portrayal incorporated ninja-like tropes for the Si-Fan—diverging from the originals' depiction of a Chinese secret society without Japanese shinobi elements; following the expiration of in the early 1980s, Marvel renamed him while preserving core attributes, allowing the archetype's indirect persistence into modern storylines. In the 2021 film and the Legend of the Ten Rings, upon the December 2018 announcement, Chinese media and fans criticized the comic origins portraying Shang-Chi as the son of Fu Manchu, rooted in "Yellow Peril" stereotypes, with Weibo outrage accusing Marvel of insulting China despite the planned renaming to Zheng Zu; post-release backlash intensified over resurfaced 2017 comments by lead actor Simu Liu criticizing China's human rights record, alongside perceived allusions such as a Tiananmen Square reference in the bus fight scene, fueling nationalist boycott calls and denial of a mainland China theatrical release despite praise from some domestic viewers. The studio opted against any Fu Manchu association, reimagining the paternal antagonist as Wenwu, a composite of the Mandarin (associated with the ten rings) and Zheng Zu (traits of immortality and leadership of a criminal organization), to sidestep expired licensing and contemporary sensitivities over ethnic stereotyping, a decision influenced by broader cultural shifts against "" tropes. Scholarly and media reassessments in the often frame Fu Manchu as fueling persistent Sinophobia, with a April 2024 analysis from Chinese state-affiliated outlet Friends of Socialist positing that the character's image continues to shape coverage of 's geopolitical rise—such as or economic influence—as existential threats, though this perspective, rooted in Beijing-aligned narratives, may understate of Chinese state actions like theft documented in U.S. government reports. Countervailing views in pulp fiction communities, including online discussions and reviews, defend the novels' revival through reprints and analyses as exemplars of escapist pulp adventure, valuing their intricate plotting and period-specific reflections of intelligence rivalries over ideological critiques, without requiring modern moral overlays. These debates underscore Fu Manchu's as a lens for evaluating fiction's prescience versus prejudice: while academia and mainstream outlets, often exhibiting left-leaning biases in , decry it as outdated , some analysts argue its depiction of a cunning Eastern autocrat anticipates real 21st-century dynamics of authoritarian ambition, evidenced by China's expansions and military assertiveness in the since the 2010s. No major cinematic revivals have occurred post-1980 due to reputational risks, yet the character's influence lingers in villain design heuristics for media emphasizing cerebral, inexorable threats.

References

  1. http://authorscalendar.info/rohmer.htm
  2. https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/fu_manchu
  3. https://www.academia.edu/3490104/Serial_Fu_Manchu_The_Chinese_Supervillain_and_the_Spread_of_Yellow_Peril_Ideology
  4. https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/fu-manchu/
  5. http://www.philsp.com/SaxRohmer/howfu.htm
  6. http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/saxrohmer-fumanchu.htm
  7. https://mixedmuseum.org.uk/main-exhibition/1913-the-demonisation-of-chinatown/
  8. http://philsp.com/SaxRohmer/Precursors.htm
  9. https://beyondvictoriana.com/2011/05/18/quaint-20-roots-of-the-yellow-peril-part-2/
  10. https://pacificties.org/review-the-insidious-fu-manchu-by-sax-rohmer/
  11. https://ericlindsay.wordpress.com/sax-rohmer-the-author-of-dr-fu-manchu/
  12. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-fu-manchu-series-sax-rohmer/1103689078
  13. http://philsp.com/SaxRohmer/first_eds.htm
  14. http://www.philsp.com/SaxRohmer/stories.htm
  15. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1656
  16. http://philsp.com/SaxRohmer/Collier.htm
  17. http://www.philsp.com/SaxRohmer/FuFrames.htm
  18. https://katemacdonald.net/2017/03/27/sax-rohmers-the-mystery-of-fu-manchu/
  19. https://travsd.wordpress.com/2023/02/15/of-sax-rohmer-fu-manchu-and-beyond/
  20. https://www.cassiusandco.com/books/p/five-fu-manchu-novels-by-sax-rohmer
  21. https://thespyproject.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/the-mystery-of-dr-fu-manchu-sax-rohmer-1913/
  22. https://www.amazon.com/Hand-Fu-Manchu-Mr-Sax-Rohmer/dp/1544019440
  23. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18465990-president-fu-manchu
  24. https://super-villain.fandom.com/wiki/Fu_Manchu
  25. https://www.theindiaforum.in/tiffin/return-doctor-fu-manchu
  26. https://www.blackgate.com/2012/09/07/sax-rohmers-the-adventures-of-nayland-smith/
  27. https://www.blackgate.com/2016/02/21/blogging-the-insidious-dr-fu-manchu-by-sax-rohmer-part-two-the-zayat-kiss/
  28. https://horrordna.com/books/the-mystery-of-dr-fu-manchu-book-review
  29. https://fantasyliterature.com/reviews/fu-manchu/
  30. https://deanebarker.net/library/titles/mystery-fu-manchu/
  31. https://www.amazon.com/Insidious-Fu-Manchu-Dover-Mystery-Classics/dp/0486298981
  32. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13572844-daughter-of-fu-manchu
  33. https://www.blackgate.com/2012/08/31/blogging-sax-rohmers-daughter-of-fu-manchu-part-four/
  34. https://www.amazon.com/Fu-Manchu-Daughter-Sax-Rohmer/dp/0857686062
  35. https://mporcius.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-insidious-dr-fu-manchu-by-sax-rohmer.html
  36. https://www.blackgate.com/2016/05/12/blogging-sax-rohmers-the-insidious-doctor-fu-manchu-part-seven-karamaneh/
  37. http://arche-arc.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-reading-rheum-hand-of-dr-fu-manchu.html
  38. https://medleyana.com/2018/07/09/fates-worse-than-death-drums-of-fu-manchu/
  39. http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/sifanorder.htm
  40. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/celestial-order-of-the-si-fan/4060-60367/
  41. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/sax-rohmer/fu-manchu/
  42. https://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/Sax_Rohmer%27s_Dr_Fu_Manchu_Series_in_Chronological_Order
  43. https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/sax-rohmer/
  44. https://www.blackgate.com/2014/04/04/the-thankless-world-of-the-continuation-author/
  45. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/345555.Ten_Years_Beyond_Baker_Street_Sherlock_Holmes_Matches_Wits_with_the_Diabolical_Dr__Fu_Manchu
  46. http://philsp.com/SaxRohmer/fires_of_fu_manchu.htm
  47. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2177841.The_Fires_of_Fu_Manchu
  48. https://www.blackgate.com/2012/05/17/william-patrick-maynards-the-terror-of-fu-manchu/
  49. https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/maynard_william_patrick
  50. http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/503748/index.html
  51. http://philsp.com/SaxRohmer/movies1.htm
  52. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023194/
  53. https://torontofilmsociety.com/past-programming/the-mask-of-fu-manchu-1932/
  54. https://trailersfromhell.com/the-fu-manchu-cycle-1965-1969/
  55. https://www.themoviedb.org/collection/98462-fu-manchu-christopher-lee-collection?language=en-US
  56. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059162/
  57. https://www.myclassicradio.net/adventure/the-shadow-of-fu-manchu/
  58. https://www.otrr.org/FILES/Articles/Martin_Grams_Jr_Articles/In_The_Shadow_Of_Fu_Manchu.htm
  59. http://www.philsp.com/SaxRohmer/radio.htm
  60. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048838/
  61. http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2016/10/boris-karloff-christopher-lee-fu-manchu.html
  62. https://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/one-of-us-is-yellow-doctor-fu-manchu-and-the-talons-of-weng-chiang-guest-post-by-kate-orman
  63. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/FuManchu
  64. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/o/omealia_l.htm
  65. https://www.blackgate.com/2010/07/23/fu-manchu-in-comics/
  66. https://www.philsp.com/SaxRohmer/OMealia.htm
  67. http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-chicago-tribune-comic-book-drums-of.html
  68. https://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/fumanchu.htm
  69. https://www.comics.org/issue/263246/
  70. https://www.comics.org/issue/583242/
  71. https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/shang-chi-racist-origins
  72. https://bookriot.com/marvels-asian-problem/
  73. https://www.polygon.com/22666560/shang-chi-comics-fu-manchu-marvel-history-gene-luen-yang-interview
  74. https://www.cbr.com/shang-chi-fu-manchu-public-domain/
  75. https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Night_Moves
  76. https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Night_Life
  77. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4766/fu-manchus-hidden-hoard
  78. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FauxManchu
  79. https://www.thecollector.com/boxer-rebellion-in-china/
  80. https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/AJVS/article/view/9405/9304
  81. https://imperialglobalexeter.com/2019/03/25/yellow-peril-the-rise-of-an-imperial-scare/
  82. https://www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/oms/chinese-limehouse-and-mr-ma-and-son
  83. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/sax-rohmer/
  84. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Opium-in-Victorian-Britain/
  85. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03068374.2019.1636515
  86. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-1
  87. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/japan_quest_empire_01.shtml
  88. https://jonlsullivan.com/2018/08/20/fu-manchu-yellow-peril-and-sinophobia/
  89. https://branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=shanyn-fiske-modeling-masculinity-engendering-the-yellow-peril-in-fu-manchu-and-thomas-burkes-limehouse-nights
  90. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20784169-the-yellow-peril
  91. https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-yellow-plague-and-romantic-anticapitalism/
  92. https://mixedmuseum.org.uk/amri-exhibition/moral-concern-over-mixed-race-children-in-the-1930s/
  93. https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/815/print/
  94. https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft7870085f&chunk.id=d0e150&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e150&brand=ucpress
  95. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/1919-race-riots/
  96. https://blackpast.org/global-african-history/britain-s-1919-race-riots/
  97. https://www.iises.net/proceedings/30th-international-academic-conference-venice/table-of-content?cid=50&iid=027&rid=7633
  98. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236806218_Modernity%27s_Yellow_Perils_Dr_Fu-Manchu_and_English_Race_Paranoia
  99. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/yellow-peril-or-model-minority-measuring-janusfaced-prejudice-toward-asians-in-the-united-states/AE7450C6C8224E913457A96B7818E821
  100. https://books.google.com/books/about/Fu_Manchu_and_the_Yellow_Peril.html?id=--MxmLLJiiMC
  101. https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125993281.pdf
  102. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1111/hisn.12410
  103. https://www.royalasiaticsociety.org.hk/events/2021/8/19/online-lecture-fu-manchu-and-the-yellow-peril-the-making-of-a-racist-myth-drjenny-clegg
  104. https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/english/2021/Aug/31/avoiding-racial-stereotypes-on-shang-chi-was-important-for-us-marvel-studios-head-kevin-feige-2352382.html
  105. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/movies/shang-chi-marvel.html
  106. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=aaldp
  107. https://www.pjfarmer.com/secret/fu/the-devil-doctor.htm
  108. http://jessnevins.com/pulp/pulpf/fu1.html
  109. https://atomicjunkshop.com/twentieth-century-geopolitics-and-east-west-relations-in-the-shadow-of-dr-fu-manchu/
  110. https://substack.com/home/post/p-132826058
  111. https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2022/05/ancient-chinas-favorite-poisons/
  112. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3099899/why-poison-was-regicidal-weapon-choice-chinese
  113. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/30/yellow-peril-dr-fu-manchu-rise-of-chinaphobia-christopher-frayling-review
  114. https://www.cbr.com/ugly-racist-history-fu-manchu-marvel-comics-first-supervillain/
  115. https://www.salempress.com/Media/SalemPress/samples/ciamericanthriller_samplepgs%5B1%5D.pdf
  116. https://literary007.com/2017/03/31/dr-fu-manchu-and-dr-no-more-than-a-family-resemblance/
  117. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/battles-man-machine-james-bond-always-wins-180972627/
  118. https://dr-hermes.livejournal.com/588415.html
  119. https://pulpfictionbook.store/2020/01/18/the-filmography-of-fu-manchu/
  120. https://reactormag.com/the-insidious-dr-fu-manchu/
  121. https://13thdimension.com/denny-oneil-talks-the-origin-of-ras-al-ghul/
  122. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/EnterTheDragon
  123. https://snowpavilion.co.uk/on-its-30th-anniversary-big-trouble-in-little-china/
  124. https://eofftvreview.wordpress.com/2021/02/11/the-terror-of-the-tongs-1961/
  125. https://talkingpulp.wordpress.com/2021/09/06/film-review-the-terror-of-the-tongs-1961/
  126. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2176675/fu-manchu-fury-china-over-marvels-asian-superhero-origin
  127. https://variety.com/2021/film/news/shang-chi-china-ban-simu-liu-1235066529/
  128. https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-MCUs-Shang-Chi-film-use-Fu-Manchu-as-the-main-antagonist-considering-the-fact-Fu-Manchu-is-Shang-Chis-archenemy-in-the-comics-while-the-Mandarin-was-always-Iron-Mans-archenemy
  129. https://socialistchina.org/2024/04/09/spectre-of-fu-manchu-still-influences-uks-modern-sinophobia/
  130. https://www.pulp-serenade.com/2020/08/re-enter-fu-manchu-by-sax-rohmer-1957.html
  131. https://pulpfictionreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/terror-of-fu-manchu.html
  132. https://pocculture.com/interview-part-1-gene-luen-yang-on-shang-chis-asian-american-story-and-rehabilitating-fu-manchu/
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
Contribute something
User Avatar
No comments yet.