Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic strips and comic books for over 100 years, and he has also become an archetype of the evil criminal genius and mad scientist, while lending his name to the Fu Manchu moustache. The character has been portrayed by actors including Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Peter Sellers.
Background and publication According to his own account, Sax Rohmer decided to start the Dr. Fu Manchu series after his Ouija board spelled out C-H-I-N-A-M-A-N when he asked what would make his fortune. Clive Bloom argues that the portrait of Fu Manchu was based on the popular music hall magician Chung Ling Soo, "a white man in costume who had shaved off his Victorian moustache and donned a Mandarin costume and pigtail". As for Rohmer's theories concerning "Eastern devilry" and "the unemotional cruelty of the Chinese",The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, chapter 7, 10 he sought to give them intellectual credentials by referring to the travel writing of Bayard Taylor.The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, ch. 19 Taylor was a would-be ethnographer who, though unversed in Chinese language and culture, used the pseudo-science of physiognomy to find in the Chinese race "deeps on deeps of depravity so shocking and horrible, that their character cannot even be hinted". Rohmer's protagonists treat him as an authority.
Fu Manchu first appeared in Rohmer's short story "The Zayat Kiss" (1912). It and nine further stories were later collected into the 1913 novel The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu. Two more series were collected into The Devil Doctor (1916) and The Si-Fan Mysteries (1917), before the character entered a 14-year absence. Following 1931's The Daughter of Fu-Manchu, Rohmer wrote nine more Fu Manchu novels before his death in 1959. Four previously published stories were posthumously collected into The Wrath of Fu-Manchu (1973). In total, Rohmer wrote 14 novels concerning the character. The image of "Orientals" invading Western nations became the foundation of Rohmer's commercial success, being able to sell 20 million copies in his lifetime.
Characters Dr. Fu Manchu
Supervillain Dr. Fu Manchu's murderous plots are marked by the extensive use of arcane methods; he disdains guns or explosives, preferring dacoits, thugs and members of other secret societies as his agents (usually armed with knives) or using "pythons and cobras ... fungi and my tiny allies, the bacilli ... my black spiders" and other peculiar animals or natural chemical weapons. He has a great respect for the truth (in fact, his word is his bond), and uses torture and other gruesome tactics to dispose of his enemies.
Dr. Fu Manchu is described as a mysterious villain because he seldom appears on the scene. He always sends his minions to commit crimes for him. In the novel The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, he sends a beautiful young girl to the crime scene to see that the victim is dead. He also sends a dacoit to attack Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie.
In the novel Fu Manchu's Bride (1933), Dr. Fu Manchu claims to hold doctorates from four Western universities, while in Emperor Fu Manchu (1959), he states that he attended Heidelberg University, the Sorbonne and the University of Edinburgh. (In the film The Mask of Fu Manchu, however, he states proudly that "I am a doctor of philosophy from Edinburgh, a doctor of law from Christ's College, a doctor of medicine from Harvard. My friends, out of courtesy, call me 'Doctor.) At the time of their first encounter (1911) Dr. Petrie believed that Dr. Fu Manchu was more than 70 years old. That would mean that he studied for his first doctorate in the 1860s or 1870s.
According to Cay Van Ash, Rohmer's biographer and former assistant who became the first author to continue the series after Rohmer's death, "Fu Manchu" was a title of honor, which referred to "the warlike Manchu". Van Ash speculates that Dr. Fu Manchu was a member of the imperial family of China who backed the losing side in the Boxer Rebellion. In the early books (1913–1917), Dr. Fu Manchu is an agent of a Chinese tong, known as the Si-Fan, and acts as the mastermind behind a wave of assassinations targeting Westerners living in China. In the later books (1931–1959), he has gained control of the Si-Fan, which has been changed from a mere Chinese tong into an international criminal organization under his leadership. In addition to attempting to take over the world and restore China to its former glory (Dr. Fu Manchu's main goals right from the beginning), the Si-Fan now also tries to eliminate fascist dictators and halt the spread of communism around the globe, for its leader's own selfish reasons. Dr. Fu Manchu knows that both fascism and communism present major obstacles to his plans for world domination. The Si-Fan is largely funded through criminal activities, particularly the drug trade and human trafficking. Dr. Fu Manchu has extended his already considerable lifespan by use of the elixir of life, a formula that he has spent decades trying to perfect.
Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie
Opposing Dr. Fu Manchu in the stories are Sir Denis Nayland Smith and, in the first three books, Dr. Petrie. Petrie narrates the first three novels. (The later novels are narrated by various other characters allied with Smith right up to the end of the series.) Smith carries on the fight, combating Dr. Fu Manchu more by sheer luck and dogged determination than intellectual brilliance except in extremis. Smith and Dr. Fu Manchu share a grudging respect for one another, as each believes that a man must keep his word, even to an enemy.
In the first three books, Smith serves in the Indian Imperial Police as a police commissioner in Burma who has been granted a roving commission, allowing him to exercise authority over any group who can help him in his mission. When Rohmer revived the series in 1931, Smith, who has been knighted for his efforts to defeat Fu Manchu, is an ex-Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard. He later accepts a position with MI6. Several books have him placed on special assignment with the FBI.
Kâramanèh
Prominent among Dr. Fu Manchu's agents is the "seductively lovely" Kâramanèh. Her real name is unknown. She was sold to the Si-Fan by Egyptian slave traders while she was still a child. Kâramanèh falls in love with Dr. Petrie, the narrator of the first three books in the series, and rescues Petrie and Nayland Smith many times. Eventually the couple are united and she wins her freedom. They marry and have a daughter, Fleurette, who figures in two later novels, Fu Manchu's Bride (1933) and its sequel, The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934). Lin Carter later created a son for Dr. Petrie and Kâramanèh.
Fah Lo Suee
Dr. Fu Manchu's daughter, Fah Lo Suee, is a devious mastermind in her own right, frequently plotting to usurp her father's position in the Si-Fan and aiding his enemies both within and outside the organization. Her real name is unknown; Fah Lo Suee was a childhood term of endearment. She is introduced anonymously while still a teenager in the third book in the series and plays a larger role in several of the titles of the 1930s and 1940s. She is known for a time as Koreani after being brainwashed by her father, but her memory is later restored. Like her father, she takes on false identities, among them Madame Ingomar, Queen Mamaloi and Mrs van Roorden. In films she has been portrayed by numerous actresses over the years. Her character is usually renamed in film adaptations because of difficulties with the pronunciation of her name. Anna May Wong played Ling Moy in Daughter of the Dragon (1931). Myrna Loy portrayed the character (as Fah Lo See) in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932). Gloria Franklin had the role of Fah Lo Suee in Drums of Fu Manchu (1940). Laurette Luez played Karamaneh in The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu (1956), but the character owed more to Fah Lo Suee than to Rohmer's depiction of Kâramanèh. Tsai Chin portrayed Dr. Fu Manchu's daughter Lin Tang in the five Christopher Lee films of the 1960s.
Books Sax Rohmer The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (1913) (U.S. title: The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu) The Devil Doctor (1916) (U.S. title: The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu) The Si-Fan Mysteries (1917) (U.S. title: The Hand of Fu-Manchu) Daughter of Fu Manchu (1931) (original title Fu Manchu's Daughter) The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) The Bride of Fu Manchu (1933) (U.S. title: Fu Manchu's Bride) The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934) President Fu Manchu (1936) The Drums of Fu Manchu (1939) The Island of Fu Manchu (1941) Shadow of Fu Manchu (1948) Re-Enter Dr. Fu Manchu (1957) (U.S. title: Re-Enter Fu Manchu) Emperor Fu Manchu (1959), Rohmer's last novel published before his death The Wrath of Fu Manchu (1973), a posthumous anthology containing the title novella, first published in 1952, and three later short stories: "The Eyes of Fu Manchu" (1957), "The Word of Fu Manchu" (1958), and "The Mind of Fu Manchu" (1959).
Cay Van Ash Ten Years Beyond Baker Street (1984), the first of two authorised continuation novels by Cay Van Ash, Sax Rohmer's former assistant and biographer; set in early 1914, it sees Dr. Fu Manchu come into conflict with Sherlock Holmes. The Fires of Fu Manchu (1987), the second authorized continuation novel by Cay Van Ash; it is set in 1917, and documents Smith and Petrie's encounter with Dr. Fu Manchu during the First World War, culminating in Smith's knighthood. A third continuation novel, The Seal of Fu Manchu, was underway when Van Ash died in 1994 and it is believed to be lost.
Other authors The Terror of Fu Manchu (2009), the first of three authorised continuation novels by William Patrick Maynard; it expands on the continuity established in Van Ash's books and sees Dr. Petrie teaming with both Nayland Smith and a Rohmer character from outside the series, Gaston Max, in an adventure set on the eve of the First World War The Destiny of Fu Manchu (2012), the second authorised continuation novel by William Patrick Maynard, set between Rohmer's The Drums of Fu Manchu and The Island of Fu Manchu on the eve of the Second World War; it follows the continuity established in Maynard's first novel The Triumph of Fu Manchu (announced), the third authorised continuation novel by William Patrick Maynard, set between Rohmer's The Trail of Fu Manchu and President Fu Manchu The League of Dragons by George Alec Effinger, an unpublished and unauthorised novel, narrated by Conan Doyle's character Reginald Musgrave, involving a young Sherlock Holmes matching wits with Dr. Fu Manchu in the 19th century, of which two chapters have been published in the anthologies Sherlock Holmes in Orbit (1995) and My Sherlock Holmes (2003)
Dr. Fu Manchu also makes appearances in the following non-Fu Manchu/Rohmer works: "Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong" and "Part of the Game", a pair of related short stories by F. Paul Wilson in his collection Aftershocks and Others: 19 Oddities (2009), featuring anonymous appearances by Fu Manchu and characters from Little Orphan Annie Several stories in August Derleth's detective series Solar Pons, in which he appears as "the Doctor"; Derleth's successor, Basil Copper, also made use of the character. Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick (1976), in which he is the Chinese ambassador The Destroyer #83, Skull Duggery (1976), in which It is revealed that Chiun, the Master of Sinanju has worked for the Devil Doctor, as have previous generations of Masters. Kim Newman's Anno Dracula (1992), in which he appears as the leader of the Si Fan and chief crime lord of London, referred to as "The Lord of Strange Deaths".