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Marvel Phase 4: Doctor Strange, TV series and finally Black Widow
by Dominik Bärlocher
China's not happy with Marvel's first Asian superhero
24.7.2019
Translation: Eva Francis
Even before its release, the upcoming Shang Chi comic book adaptation seems to have fallen out of favour in China, one of Marvel Studios' most important markets. Why? The characters and story are said to serve racist stereotypes.
The last thing the studio wants now is China to boycott them.
Shang-Chi and his father, Fu Manchu
On Sina Weibo, China's Twitter equivalent, fans are voicing their anger in particular at the announcement that Hong Kong actor Tony Leung will play the Mandarin. Rumour has it that, in the movie, the Mandarin isn’t only the villain and leader of the Ten Rings, but also the father of the hero, Shang-Chi.
In the comics, Shang Chi's father isn’t the Mandarin, but the super villain Fu Manchu. Growing up, Shang-Chi thinks Fu Manchu is a goodie. He only discovers the true motives of his father later on, in his youth. That’s when the constant battle breaks out between the young Shang-Chi and his evil father Fu Manchu.
Here’s the problem: the figure of Fu Manchu was created in the early 1900s by the British crime writer Sax Rohmer, essentially based on Western stereotypes of the Chinese villain. Especially stereotypical physical features. Marvel bought the rights to the figure in the 1970s and showed him as a sinister villain, who’s constantly planning to take over world domination.
Only when Marvel lost the rights to the name of Fu Manchu in 2015, he was replaced in the comics by Zheng Zu, an ancient magician who took on the identity of Fu Manchu.
Anger about racist stereotypes
What makes users on Sina Weibo particularly angry is that the way the Chinese culture and population is shown in Hollywood films is often based on the ideas of Western filmmakers. This has little to do with reality.
The point here is not whether the Mandarin is exactly Fu Manchu or just his replacement, the point is both characters emerged because of the discrimination and stereotyping of the Chinese population in the previous years.
Another comment, liked over ten thousand times, accuses Marvel of casting a Chinese actor – Tony Leung – as villain while picking a Canadian actor of Chinese origin – Simu Liu – for the role of hero Shang-Chi.
If you’d like to make money in China, better shape your Chinese characters more wisely.
The topic «Shang-Chi» has been viewed more than 70 million times on Weibo, as Quartzy reports. There are more than 60,000 posts discussing it. Many users are calling for a boycott of Marvel and even of actor Tony Leung for accepting the role.
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Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
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