Fu Manchu Charlie Chen Exploring the image of Chinese from a Western perspective

Let's start with a painting.

In 1895, Kaiser Wilhelm II had a painting made.

In the center of the picture of this painting, there is St. Michael the Archangel with a long sword, and behind him are other representatives of European disciples holding various **s**. Above their heads, the cross was glittering. And this group of people is confronted by the Buddha who rides a Chinese dragon in the distance – alluding to the yellow Asians.

The Kaiser himself gave the painting a letter:

Protect your faith and your homeland, all the peoples of Europe! ”

**Fig

In that year, the Qing Empire had just been beaten by its East Asian neighbors in the "First Sino-Japanese War", and under the bullying of Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Germany, Italy and other European and American powers, the former "Oriental Dragon" was almost dying - in this context, the Kaiser called on the European and American powers to "defend their homeland", which made people feel a sense of dismay.

However, the Kaiser ordered this painting to be made and made such an inscription, although some people ridiculed him for being a bit neurotic, but on the whole, it was approved by many Westerners.

And the reason why this painting is famous is that a long-standing concern of Westerners finally has a visual representation.

That worry is directly reflected in the name of the painting

* (yellow peril)" was widely used in Europe in the early 19th century.

It is generally believed that the initiator of the "theory of *" was the a** activist Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, who directly expounded this in his book "The State System and the State of A**", published in 1873:

Chinese is a terrible ......Within China lived many people who had been less devastated by Chinese civilization, who were extremely energetic and intensely warlike......

In recent years they have become familiar with mastering the latest ** and European discipline ......It is only necessary to ......combine this discipline and familiarity with the new and new technologies with the primitive barbarism of the Chinese, the absence of humane concepts, the absence of freedom-loving instincts, and the habit of slave-like obedience

Add to that the fact that China's huge population had to find a way out, and you can understand how great the danger from the east is threatening us! ”

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, an early Russian proletarian revolutionary, a representative of "a**ism".

The first was from the fourth to the fifth century AD, when the Northern Xiongnu branch defeated by the Eastern Han Dynasty moved westward to Europe, constantly attacking the Germanic people and the Eastern Roman Empire, and eventually indirectly led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire;

The second was in the 11th and 12th centuries, when the Western Turks, defeated by the Tang Dynasty, once again changed European history: the Ottoman Empire, founded by the Turks, eventually destroyed the Eastern Roman Empire;

The third time was in the 13th century, when the feared Mongols captured Budapest in their second westward expedition, and their troops were directed towards Vienna, and the main force crossed the Danube, causing a great panic in Europe.

And from a theoretical point of view, there are three kinds of support for the "** theory" of Westerners:

The first is "ethnography". At that time, there was a saying that the British and modern Germanic people had the highest average brain capacity and were excellent people, while the Chinese and black Americans had more than 10% smaller brain capacity than whites and were inferior people, so they should be ruled by "excellent people".

According to a map of the global IQ distribution that has been circulated on the Internet, yellow people have the highest IQ.

This graph is from Richard Lynn, a retired professor at the University of Ulster in the United Kingdom, from his 2006 book, "Race Differences in Intelligence: An Evolutionary Analysis" — it is worth mentioning that the authors were very controversial in analyzing the samples, so this graph is not very credible.

According to American scientists who later studied 20,000 modern human skulls around the world, the cranial cavity solvent of East Asians is 1,415 cubic centimeters, while Europeans are 1,362 cubic centimeters, and Africans are 1,268 cubic centimeters - but it should also be pointed out that brain volume does not completely determine IQ, otherwise the most intelligent creatures on earth should be whales.

The third is the "military threat theory." Once armed with modern military technology, the Chinese with demographic superiority will pose a huge threat to the West, and the future of the world will definitely be "white vs. yellow". The Boxer Rebellion in late Qing China seems to have found another example for Westerners: more Westerners do not reflect on whether their own military presence and other actions on the territory of another country will provoke the people of that country**, but are extremely concerned about the so-called "mob revolt".

The Sino-Japanese War of 1895 was also an important reason for the Kaiser to order the painting – even though China seemed to be weak at the time, the astonishing combat effectiveness of their former "apprentice" Japan in the Sino-Japanese War was considered to pose a great challenge to the European-dominated world order.

For them, the concept of "**" that they are constantly instilled needs a more understandable character image to carry.

Thus, "Fu Manchu" (Fu Manchu) appeared.

In 1913, British leader Sachs Lomore decided to create a virtual character.

There were two things that touched Lomore at the time:

In 1911, there was a gang crime in the east of London, and the people were rumored to have done it by local Chinese;

In 1912, the Qing Empire collapsed overnight during the "Xinhai Revolution".

This gave Lommer an inspiration, as he later recalled:

I often wonder why I didn't have this inspiration before this. In 1912, it seemed that everything was ripe to create an image of a Chinese villain for the mass culture market. The rumors caused by the Boxer Rebellion are still popular in the community, and the recent incident in the slums of London has also turned the public's attention to the East. ”

In 1913, Lomore launched his ** "The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu" - the character "Fu Manchu" made his first appearance.

According to Lomer's setting, Fu Manchu's father was an English nobleman, and his mother was an ordinary Chinese woman.

In terms of appearance, Fu Manchu is tall and thin, with high shoulders, raised eyebrows, pointed chin, and the most eye-catching thing is the two sagging mustaches, wearing the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty.

The cover of the "Fu Manchu" series**

The first is genius. With doctorates from the University of Heidelberg, the Sorbonne, the University of Edinburgh, and four other prestigious universities whose names are not named, Fu Manchu is logical, decisive and resolute. He was also a linguistic genius, "able to speak fluently in all the languages of civilization and the languages of the vast majority of barbarian peoples......."In the face of the Chinese, he spoke Chinese, in the face of the Indians, he spoke Hindi, and when he met the Egyptians, he immediately changed to Arabic. ”

The second is **. Fu Manchu is set as a member of China's royal family, controls a terrorist organization called "si-fan", and with the endless money obtained from engaging in "white slaves", he engages in various assassinations, kidnappings, and uses all kinds of mysterious witchcraft and poison to do all kinds of evil, and he ultimately wants to defeat the dominance of white people and establish a "yellow empire".

Of course, the confrontation with the ** Fu Manchu must be the righteous white male protagonist - detective Dr. Dennis Smith (Denis Smith).

A model that caters to the reading tastes of readers, mostly Western readers, of course, was born.

As soon as the image of "Fu Manchu" was launched, it immediately became popular in Europe and the United States.

In terms of **, Sachs Lomore has written at least 9 ** films with "Fu Manchu" as the protagonist;

In 1923, the movie "The Mystery of Fu Manchu" was released for the first time and became a sensation, and a total of 14 films were made after that;

From 1951 to 1999, there were four series of comics featuring "Fu Manchu";

In 1956 and 1990, there was also a TV series with "Fu Manchu" as the protagonist.

Fu Manchu is an American Marvel Comics supervillain, who first appeared in the 15th issue of the Special Marvel Edition (December 1973), which is completely copied from the character of British writer Sax Romer**. His real name is Zheng Zu, and he is the father of "Shangchi" in the comics.

The image of Fu Manchu in the movie. The "subjugation" of white women by the yellow race was also seen as unacceptable at the time.

He is intelligent and industrious, strong and stoic, ancient and mysterious, but at the same time, he is sinister, vile and cruel, greedy and lewd......

All of this, in fact, is quite in line with the image of "Chinese" in the minds of Westerners at that time, and can also cater to the reading tastes of the market: mysterious, curious, exciting, white supremacy, ......

The picture shows a cartoon of "Chinese exclusion" in the United States. The series of films of "Fu Manchu" catered to the long-standing trend of "Chinese exclusion" in the United States at that time, and when the first "The Secret of Fu Manchu" was adapted into a movie, the name of the United States was directly "The Insidious and Cunning Fu Manchu".

Fu Manchu was made up by me out of thin air, but I don't know anything about China. ”

It must be admitted that the image of "Fu Manchu" has influenced the imagination of generations of Westerners about the "Chinese", but he is not the only cultural image.

Here we will talk about another fictional "Chinese" image: Charlie Chen.

In 1920, Earl Del Biggs, an American homemaker, went to Hawaii for a vacation.

At a small local hotel, Biggs noticed an interesting phenomenon: in Hawaii, many hotel rooms are unlocked.

Biggs was surprised to think that this was a good material. In addition, he reads the local newspaper every day and finds that there is often news about Asian drug dealers being rampant, so he really wants to combine the two elements of "unlocked rooms" and "opium trafficking" to write a **.

But Biggs's inspiration didn't develop until three years later: when he went to the New York Public Library to look through Hawaiian newspapers, he found a Chinese police officer named Zheng Ping arresting a Chinese addict to opium.

In 1925, Biggs published his own ** The House Without a Key

Honolulu tycoon Dane Winterslip was brutally murdered in his unlocked home, and the deceased's relatives and friends all had a motive for the crime, and everyone seemed to have a secret story. When there is no clue about the case, Charlie Chen, a famous Chinese detective from Honolulu, appears on the scene, sorts out the myriad clues, discovers important evidence and clues to the crime, and finally solves the case.

The cover of "An Unlocked Room".

However, he is a Chinese. ”

However, Charlie Chen finally won everyone's trust with his intelligence and ability.

Compared with "Fu Manchu", the appearance of the image of "Charlie Chen" can be said to be a kind of whitewashing of the Chinese in a sense at that time:

He was brilliant – which seems to have become a constant sign of the Chinese in the eyes of Westerners – and he was on the side of justice, calm and humble at the same time.

And the author Biggs also made it clear that he doesn't like "Fu Manchu" too much to become a ubiquitous "Chinese image spokesperson":

The view of Chinese as criminals has long been outdated, while those gentle, good, law-abiding Chinese have never been noticed. ”

The Unlocked Room" was first published in the newspaper**, and because of its great popularity, it was published in a single book. After becoming popular, Biggs took "Charlie Chen" as the protagonist, and published five more reasoning books in one go.

Hollywood, with a keen sense of smell, immediately followed. In 1925, The Unlocked Room was adapted into a film. By 1949, a total of 47 movies featuring "Charlie Chen" had been made, and there were also 39 TV episodes.

In the Charlie Chen series of films, a total of five actors have starred, the silent film era was played by two Japanese, and in the sound film era, it was all Westerners.

The most classic in the "Charlie Chen" movie series is the 16 films starring Warner Holland. It is considered to be the most in line with the image and the most valuable film art.

Xu Guangping once recalled that Lu Xun particularly liked the "Charlie Chen" series of movies played by Olander, and whenever a new one was released, no matter how far away the movie theater was, he had to go to see it.

And in the Western world, "Charlie Chen" has also become a Chinese image that is no less well-known than "Fu Manchu".

An American television station once did a survey, and Charlie Chen ranked fifth in the image of Chinese that Americans are most familiar with.

However, the Chinese image of "Charlie Chen" has also fallen into controversy.

For example, Charlie Chen and his wife had 14 children – although this may sound incredible even in China, it was in line with the Westerners' imagination of China at the time.

Although the author is obviously trying to remind people of Confucius's Analects, some Chinese viewers think that they are just witty words, which are completely unrelated to the words in the Analects, and will make people feel a little uncomfortable.

Charlie Chen's "Oriental Aphorisms" were also compiled into a single book for sale

Many supporters believe that compared with the image of "Fu Manchu", the image of "Charlie Chen" has improved a lot, not only is he not faulty in his own quality, but also can provide great help to white people and become everyone's friend.

But the argument of the naysayers is that this is precisely the problem.

Charlie Chen's first appearance in ** is described like this:

He was indeed fat, but he walked with a woman's brisk pace. His cheeks were chubby, his complexion was like mutton fat, and his black hair was cut short ......”

There are doubters who ask the question:

In a white world, only by ignoring the masculine characteristics of Asians can you feel safe. And they must be patient, submissive, passive, humble, and content with the status quo. When whites need help, they show up on time like faithful servants, doing everything they can; When whites need them to disappear, they quietly leave and live in peace on their own, without revolt, resistance, or discontent.

Han Lee, the Korean-American restaurateur in the American drama "Bankrupt Sisters", was also considered by some viewers to be set up to cater to Western aesthetics: docile, timid, and turtle-haired. In the play, the two heroines joke and ridicule Han's figure, personality and even sexual ability all the time, but Han is still willing to lend a helping hand when the two heroines encounter difficulties.

Zheng Ping

To commemorate the historic occasion — and to promote local tourism — the Hawaii Tourism Authority asked someone to take a photo of the two men.

However, on the ** issued by the tourism bureau to major newspapers, the Chinese is not Zheng Ping himself, but a stand-in invited by the tourism bureau: a younger, more mellow, Chinese man dressed in exaggerated Chinese opera robes.

In order to reflect more "Chinese elements", a birdcage was also placed on the table between the two.

Perhaps, such an image of "Charlie Chen" is more in line with the imagination of Western audiences.

The two images of "Fu Manchu" and "Charlie Chen" have been changing over time.

At the beginning of its birth, Fu Manchu was indeed in line with the imagination of the Western world for the yellow race, and appeared in many works as an important reference to reflect the integrity and indomitability of Westerners. But if the political climate changes, the treatment of "Fu Manchu" in the West will also change - this actually indirectly proves that Westerners know what kind of existence "Fu Manchu" is

In 1940, the United States directly ordered several Hollywood studios to ban the filming of films with the theme of "Fu Manchu". Coincidentally, the British BBC has repeatedly rejected applications for the adaptation of "Fu Manchu" into a radio drama - because in World War II, China and Britain and the United States had become allies. After the Second World War, the cultural works with the theme of "Fu Manchu" came back again, but the voices of Chinese and even Asian American organizations** became louder and louder, and this image became more and more sensitive.

Marvel originally announced that Tony Leung would play the supervillain character "Manchu" based on Fu Manchu, which once caused a lot of controversy. The opinion of many Chinese netizens is: It's not that Chinese actors can't play Chinese villains, but the image of "Fu Manchu" has too many sensitivities

Chow Yun-fat's image in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" is also considered to be a reference to "Fu Manchu".

In 2003, the Fox Movie Channel prepared to restore the film of the Charlie Chan series of films and planned a summer film festival to re-evaluate them.

This move was met with a lot of Chinese-Americans, and Eddie Wong, the head of the Asian American Communications Association of America, wrote to the channel

Chen's womanly gait, humble attitude, exaggerated accent, and chattering aphorisms are nothing like my parents, my friends, or any Chinese I know. ”

Eventually, the Fox Movie Channel canceled the plan.

Screenshot of Fox Movie Channel's original announcement of the cancellation of the plan.

This situation may have changed to a certain extent after Bruce Lee appeared.

End of text).This article mainly refers to **:

1. "From "Fu Manchu" to "Charlie Chen": China and Chinese in Western Popular Media in the 20th Century (Chang Jiang, Journalism and Communication Research, 2017, No. 02).

2. "Fu Manchu: The Demonized Image of the Chinese" (Kaitie, Wen Wei Po, January 16, 2015).

3. "The Ghost of Fu Manchu: A Century of Changes in the Image of Chinese in Hollywood Movies" (Chang Jiang, Shi Guyan, Contemporary Cinema, Issue 02, 2019).

4. "Fu Manchu - The Peak of the Image of Western Society Demonizing China" (Liu Yan, Journal of Huaihai Institute of Technology (Social Science Edition), 2006.02).

5. "The Origin of Nationalism in China and Japan that Shocked Western Civilization" (Luo Fuhui, Economic Observer, July 18, 2018).

6. "Marvel develops the first Chinese superhero movie, the actor is the son of Fu Manchu, causing controversy" (Ruan Jiaqi, Observer.com, December 4, 2018).

8. Wikipedia "Fu Manchu", "Charlie Chen" entry.