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Dr. Fu Manchu is a fictional character, an evil genius of Manchu origin, first featured in a series of novels by Birmingham author Sax Rohmer (real name Arthur Sarsfield Ward) during the early years of the 20th century.

"Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. 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

A master criminal, Fu Manchu works for the overthrow of Western civilization or the "White race." His murderous plots are marked by the extensive use of apparently Asian methods; he disdains guns or explosives, preferring dacoits, phansigars, and members of other secret societies as his agents armed with knives, or using "pythons and hamadryads... fungi and my tiny allies, the bacilli... my black spiders" and other peculiar animals or natural chemical weapons. The most prominent of his agents is the "seductively lovely" Karamaneh. Fu Manchu's daughter, Fah Lo Suee, is a devious mastermind in her own right, plotting to take control of the Si-Fan from her father and making things difficult for him.

Opposing Fu Manchu are Commissioner Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie. They are in the Holmes and Watson tradition, with Dr. Petrie narrating the stories while Nayland Smith carries the fight, combating Fu Manchu more by doggedness and determination rather than any intellectual brilliance (except in extremis). Nayland Smith and Fu Manchu have grudging respect for each other, as each is from the old school where a man keeps his word even to an enemy.

According to Cay Van Ash (a friend and biographer of Sax Rohmer, who wrote his own authorized pastiches Ten years beyond Baker Street and The Fires of Fu Manchu) "Fu Manchu" was a title of honor, which meant "the Warlike Manchu." It was thought that the character had been a member of the Imperial family who backed the losing side in the Boxer Rebellion. In the earliest books, Fu Manchu is an assassin sent on missions by the Si-Fan, but he quickly rises to become head of that dreaded secret society. At first, the Si-Fan's goal is to throw the Europeans out of Asia; later, the group attempts to intervene more generally in world politics, while funding itself by more ordinary crime.

The character of Fu Manchu has become controversial as an example of racism found frequently in Western representations of the Chinese at that time.The character is often associated with the Yellow Peril. Manchu has inspired numerous other characters, and is the model for most villains in later "Yellow Peril" thrillers.[http://www.violetbooks.com/yellowperil.html Examples include Pao Tcheou, Yellow Claw, and Iron Man foe the Mandarin.

Books

  • The Insidious Dr Fu Manchu (1913). This is a combination of short stories originally published in magazines. The first was The Zayat Kiss which was published in The Storyteller (1912).
  • The Return of Dr Fu Manchu (1916)
  • The Hand of Fu Manchu (1917)
  • Daughter of Fu Manchu (1931)
  • The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
  • The Bride of Fu Manchu (1933)
  • The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934)
  • President Fu Manchu (1936)
  • The Drums of Fu Manchu (1939)
  • The Island of Fu Manchu (1940)
  • The Shadow of Fu Manchu (1948)
  • The Wrath of Fu Manchu (1952)
  • Re-Enter Fu Manchu (1957)
  • Emperor Fu Manchu (1959)

TV, serials, and feature films

Fu Manchu has appeared as a villainous character in several motion pictures and cliffhanger serials over the years, and even a television series, The Adventures of Fu Manchu (1956). There were a number made around 1930 including The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) and The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930). The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), featuring Boris Karloff, is considered the best of those produced in the 1930s. In 1940, Republic Studios released Drums of Fu Manchu, a 15-episode serial considered to be one of the best the studio ever made which was later released as a feature film in 1943. The name was revived in a series starring Christopher Lee in the 1960s with 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 finally The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969). His last major film appearance was The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, a 1980 parody starring Peter Sellers as Fu.

In other media

  • Fu Manchu appeared, but only as "The Doctor," in Alan Moore's comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moore did not have the copyright to use the character by name, but is generally considered to have done very well in spite of this.
  • DC Comics used Fu Manchu during the thirties with different names until they obtained a copyright licence.
  • Marvel Comics later used the same technique when they lost the rights to the character after getting them in the 1970s. Fu Manchu appeared as the father of the character Shang-Chi in the series Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. In later appearances, Fu Manchu is never named, only referred to as Shang's 'father,' and never shown out of shadow. In a recent Black Panther storyline, he is referred to as "Mr. Han", apparently a play on the name of the main villain in Enter the Dragon.
  • Fu Manchu and his daughter are the inspiration for the character Hark and his daughter Anna Hark in the comic book series Planetary.
  • Kim Newman's novel Anno-Dracula includes a character known as "The Chinaman," who is an unnamed Fu Manchu.
  • 'Fred' Fu Manchu was a character in various episodes of The Goon Show, acting in various villainous roles. He also received a self-titled Goon Show episode, Fred Fu Manchu and His Bamboo Saxaphone where he planned, and succeeded to "finish Britain * as a saxaphone-playing nation".
  • Fu Manchu is the name of a ska song by Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker.
  • Fu Manchu is a Southern Californian stoner rock band. Formed in 1987.

Trivia

  • The villainous Chinese character Doctor Julius No in Ian Fleming's 1958 James Bond novel "Doctor No," was based on Fu Manchu, and Fleming often cited Sax Rohmer as an inspiration.
  • In Kurt Vonnegut Jr's book Slapstick Fu Manchu is the name of the miniaturized Chinese head of state.

External links

Film villains | Literature villains | Pulp heroes and villains | Fictional evil geniuses | Fictional Chinese | Supervillains without aliases

Dr. Fu Manchu | Fu Manchú | Fu Manchu

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Fu Manchu".

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