“The Wrath of Fu Manchu” by Sax Rohmer

Dr. Fu Manchu is the 1913 creation of prolific English novelist, Sax Rohmer. Dr. Fu Manchu forever twined the mad scientist iconography with the figure of the Asian Other. Situated within its historical context, Rohmer plays off of white fears of the “yellow peril”. Significantly, 1903 marked the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the first time an Asian nation defeated a European power. Suddenly Western conceptions of Asia had to be reconfigured with Asia emerging as a geographic and cultural location  from which to draw on for futuristic and or alternate temporalities.

Dr. Fu Manchu is a stereotypical Oriental fiend. His genius with dark sciences, biological, and chemical posit him as a threat to Western civilization. The stories of Fu Manchu popularized the law abiding West vs. the evil Orient as an archetype in movies, books, radio, and comic books.