Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu was the villain in a series of Sax Rohmer novels in the first half of the 20th century and continuing into films.
In popular culture, he is considered an archetype of a “supervillain.” Generally depicted as Asian, with a mustache that extends downwards from the corners of his mouth.
(The type of mustache itself has come to be called a “Fu Manchu.”)
The Manchu people are the natives of Manchuria, which provides some basis for his depiction as Asian.
Why I Looked It Up
Annie and I were playing cards and listening to country music. Tim McGraw’s song Live Like You Were Dying has this lyric:
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named ‘Fu Manchu’
Annie remarked that she thought the name was funny.
I had always had a vague idea of the source, but for some reason I was thinking it was the villain from Flash Gordon (that’s Ming the Merciless), or Sherlock Holmes (that’s Dr. Moriarty).
I suddenly realized that I had no idea what fictional canon Fu Manchu belonged to.
Postscript
Added on
In September 2023, I read The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, which is the first appearance of the character.
Interestingly, above I note that the character is “generally depicted as Asian.” I understated this – the character is explicitly Asian in the novel, specifically Chinese. At this point, I’m not sure of a depiction that exists which is not Asian.