Racial Stereotypes in Pop Culture

Dr. Fu Manchu first appeared as a character in Sax Rohmer's stories in 1913 and played into the American stereotypes of Asians as involved in covert organized crime and villainous behavior—in Rohmer's description, Fu was "the yellow peril incarnate in one man." Created during a period in which Chinese labor was seen as a threat to U.S. workers, Fu Manchu was brilliant and spoke fluent English, but was inherently unfeeling and conniving, and plotted to take over the world. He represented one of two models of Asian male depicted in 20th-century American pop culture; the other was the bumbling, nonthreatening buffoon Charlie Chan.