Fu Manchu - Cultural Impact

Cultural Impact

The character of Fu Manchu became a stereotype often associated with the Yellow Peril. Fu Manchu has inspired numerous other characters, and is the model for most villains in later "Yellow Peril" thrillers. Examples include Pao Tcheou, Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon, Dr, Goo-Fee from Fearless Fly, Li Chang Yen from The Big Four, James Bond adversary Dr. No, The Celestial Toymaker from the Doctor Who story of the same name, Dr. Benton Quest's archenemy Dr. Zin from the Jonny Quest television series, Dr. Yen-Lo from The Manchurian Candidate, Lo-Pan from Big Trouble in Little China, Marvel Comics foes the Mandarin and the Yellow Claw, DC Comics' Rā's al Ghūl, Wo Fat from the CBS TV series Hawaii Five-O, "The Craw" in more than one episode of Get Smart, and Ancient Wu from the video game True Crime: Streets of LA. Fu Manchu and his daughter are the inspiration for the character Hark and his daughter Anna Hark in the comic book series Planetary.

He was also parodied by Kenneth Williams in the radio show Round the Horne as the Oriental criminal mastermind Dr Chou En Ginsberg MA (failed), accompanied by his common-as-muck concubine Lotus Blossom, played by a cockney Hugh Paddick. Appearing in ten minute sketches within the show he was the villain for Kenneth Horne's masterspy in adventures such as "The Man with the Golden Thunderball", which also spoofed James Bond.

While not of Chinese descent, "Egyptian" arch-villain "Kathulos" (then revealed to be a survived Atlantean) of Robert E. Howard's Skull-Face novella is inspired by Fu Manchu. "Comrade Li" in Peter George's Commander-1 (1965) is essentially the same type of villain—despite his name having only a thin veneer of Communism or Marxism, being rather a suave philosopher steeped in ancient Chinese learning—whose cold-blooded machinations bring about a nuclear holocaust in which nearly all humanity perishes (including China, which he sought to make great) and who eventually meets a suitable gruesome and ignominious end.

A character with the name "Fred Fu Manchu" appeared as a famous Chinese bamboo saxophonist as part of The Goon Show, a 1950's British radio comedy programme. He appeared in his very own episode, "The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu Manchu" in 1955 (announced as "Fred Fu-Manchu and his Bamboo Saxophone"), as well as making minor appearances in other episodes (including "China Story", "The Siege of Fort Night" and "The Lost Emperor"(as "Doctor Fred Fu Manchu: oriental tattooist")). The character was invented and performed by Spike Milligan, who used the character to mock British xenophobia and self-satisfaction, the traits summoning the original Fu Manchu into existence, and not as a slur against Asians.

Fu Manchu is also one of the earliest known examples of an evil scientist or archenemy, with Professor Moriarty, Doctor Jack Quartz (from Nick Carter), Zenith the Albino (from Sexton Blake), and some others being among the few other precedents. The style of facial hair associated with him in film adaptations has become known as the Fu Manchu moustache, although Rohmer's writings described the character as wearing no such adornment.