China's not happy with Marvel's first Asian superhero

In China, Marvel's plans to make a film of the Asian 1970s comics «Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings» are met with criticism, as reported by industry magazine Quartzy. The film is said to belittle Chinese people and praise Americans. «A symbol of foreign discrimination against Asians» is how Quartzy translates comments in Chinese.

Marvel Studios recently announced their plans at the Comic-Con in San Diego – probably with China in mind, as China is one of Hollywood's most important overseas film markets. According to industry specialists, it might soon be even more important than the home market in the US.

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.

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.

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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