Gene Luen Yang: The Portrayal of China
TW: Racism, Imperialism, Colonialism, Colorism, Sinocentrism, Genocide, Misinformation, War crimes, Ethnic slurs, Incest
Ok, I've droned on about how Monkey Prince was Gene Luen Yang's self-interest, and how Yang accidentally created the Asian version of the Disposable non-white Girlfriend.
I decide to revisit some of his other work in comics:
American Born Chinese Boxer & Saints Shang-Chi (2020-2022) Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings (2022) Shang-Chi: Master of the Ten Rings (2023)
I was curious if the problems in Monkey Prince were present in other works.
Turns out, they aren’t that obvious, but still present.
I had a conversation with @journeytothewestresearchabout DC Monkey Prince, and we wondered if executive meddling could have been the reason for the writing problems in Yang's comics. The same could have applied to his run on Marvel.
But I’ve noticed something else with Yang’s work: he has this strangely rosy view of pre-colonized China, like everything was perfect before Westerners showed up. He seems to portray Chinese people as solely victims of the West (primarily the British).
This is weird, since yes, China has suffered a lot at the hands of Western Imperialist forces, China has historically inflicted the same atrocities against its own people and neighbors.
More specifically, the Han people 汉族 have inflicted these atrocities.
Some things I kept in mind while writing this:
Yang is of Taiwanese & Chinese ancestry Yang was born in California Yang was raised Catholic Yang's parents told him on stories about Chinese myth & folklore (his favorite was presumably Journey to the West) Yang did research on history for the Boxer Rebellion
China's (Abridged) History of Genocide
Historically, China was the major imperialist, colonialist power of Asia.
During the Tang Dynasty (considered the Golden Age of China), this was the full expanse of the empire.
It stretches from Mongolia, to Vietnam, to Afghanistan. Think about how many demographics are populating that area.
Now, remember that China is an empire, one that believed itself the center of the world and literally named itself so (Middle Kingdom 中國), and what does the Middle Kingdom 中國 do when they find diverse cultures and societies composed by "barbarians"?
China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within its borders, and all those groups have been historically victimized at the hands of the Chinese government.
But Yang isn't knowledgeable (or isn't interested) in this darker side of Imperial China's history.
Yang seems more interested in the trauma than Europeans have inflicted on the Han people 汉族, the ethnic majority of China. He doesn't acknowledge what China has done and continues to do.
Let me briefly touch upon China's treatment of its Muslim population, specifically the Uyghurs of the Xinjiang 新疆 Province.
After the Qing Dynasty 清朝, the area fell under the empire's jurisdiction, under direct rule. The Uyghur people were able to reclaim the area after years of oppression under the Dzungar. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty 清朝, the Uyghur people tried to claim independence, only to be subsumed by the People's Republic of China. During the Mao 毛 Era, there was a push of mass migration for Han Chinese people to "dilute" the Uyghur presence in Xinjiang (this is still going on). Currently, the Uyghur people are forced into labor and "reeducation camps". Xinjiang's cotton industry rests on the slave labor that China imposed on the Uyghur. China continues to deny any wrongdoings.
Another holdover of China’s colonialism is China’s occupation of Tibet.
In 1950, the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet, and forced the government to sign the Seventeen Point Agreement, formally known as "Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet". It declared the occupying power's sovereignty over Tibet, and how the people of Tibet would "return" to China's fold.
To this today, China still occupies Tibet and persecutes the Tibetans. Tibetans live as second-class citizens within their own country (denied passports and traveling rights, denied the right to speak their language and practice their faith, denied higher-paying jobs/salaries), while Chinese live as if they belong there.
Chinese propaganda claims that the Tibetan region was "darker and more backward than Europe in the Middle Ages" and that Chinese occupation has elevated the people "from a state of isolation, poverty, and backwardness to one of opening, prosperity, and civilization."
Sound familiar?
Here is a lovely comment by a Chinese woman (Liu), a WeChat quote (Oct 8, 2022) from Lhasa, Tibet:
“The government doesn’t care? Hey! All the Tibetans in Lhasa should be wiped out! All Tibetans should be wiped out — leaving us Han Chinese to occupy this place!”
There is also China's casual racism towards Southeast Asians and other non-chinese East Asians.
Here’s a fun list of ethnic slurs that the Chinese use.
Monkey 猴子 a generic slur applied to all SEA Indonesian Mud 印泥巴子 a slur against Indonesians Vietnamese Monkeys 越南猴子 a slur against Vietnamese people Philipines Monkeys 蔓律宾猴子 a slur against Filipinos Malaysian Monkeys 马来猴子 a slur against Malaysians 高麗棒子 a term that evolved into a slur against Koreans, shortened to 棒子 Taiwanese Frog 台蛙 a slur against Taiwanese people Taiwanese Dick/Hillbilly 台巴子 a slur against Taiwanese people Little Japan/Japanese 小日本 a derogatory term against Japanese people
Now, this is a big problem that Yang never acknowledges or references. Instead, it's all about the "Colonialist Threat of Westerners" or "Ignorant Americans who keep interfering".
Basically "everyone is at fault except China."
This could be a result of lack of research/knowledge, but then that makes it worse. As I'll mention later, this ignorance makes Yang sound preachy and self-righteous.
Yang's Misconceptions about the Qing Dynasty
This is especially prevalent in Yang's Shang-Chi comics, where the Ten Rings organization is supposed to be of the Han ethnicity, but willingly adopts Qing customs and strives to uphold the Qing Dynasty, despite the fact that they are being persecuted and oppressed by the ruling Qing.
Yang does not understand that the Qing rulers were Manchurian 滿洲, not Han people 汉族.
Granted the ruling Manchurians did adopt many Han Chinese customs, but they also forced the millions to adopt their Manchurian customs
The Qing Manchurians are guilty of their own list of crimes, some that I will briefly list:
Forcing the male population to shave their head into queues & adopt their dress Threatening execution for whichever male refuses the edict above 準噶爾滅族 Dzungar Genocide (the extermination of Dzungar people) 揚州十日 The Ten Days of Yangzhou (a ten-day massacre of the Ming Dynasty loyalists as a message to hose who refused to submit to the Manchurians) The Aftermath of the 苗民起義 Miao Rebellion
For the later two major events I bolded, the aftermath was the same: Extermination & forced assimilation of ethnic minorities and the migration of the dominate ethic group into the new territory to dilute their presence.
Miao people 苗族 is actually a term for a bunch of ethnic groups that live in China, including the Hmong, Hmu, Qo Xiong, and A-Hmao. It was originally a catch-all term for any non-Han ethnicity within the empire's borders, and was colloquially equated to "barbarian"
Yang's Hollow Preachings
After everything I just said, I'll dive right in.
American Born Chinese has three Asian American characters:
Jin Wang (second-generation Chinese-American) Wei-Chun Sun (Taiwanese immigrant) Suzy Nakamura (Japanese-American
Yang managed to tackle a lot of Sinophobic & American Anti-Asian sentiments pretty well. The bullies put all East Asians into a monolithic group. The "well-intentioned white saviors" have their own biases and misconceptions, speaking up in "defense" of Jin Wang rather than allowing him a chance to speak for himself.
I think using Sun Wukong as a foil character was pretty brilliant. The mirrored stories about discrimination & dehumanization is enhanced when you realize that Jin Wang is effectively a "monkey" for his white classmates to point and laugh at, and those that aren't overtly cruel are still wary about him "crossing a line". It really showed how White Americans see Asian Americans as oddities, and even those that "tolerate" us really don't accept us.
I'll even admit, the Chinese-American kid obsessed with Transformers and going with their parents to the medicine shop felt really personal to me. I was that kid, twenty years later, and I still am.
I did find his abridged version of Journey to the West a bit weird. Learning he tried to synergize Christianity with Buddhism explained a lot, and it felt a bit like Buddhist erasure. Also, it makes the "If I accepted I was a monkey the whole time, I would have suffered less" is actively harmful. If Sun Wukong accepted that his treatment for being a monkey, he would have suffered less? If Jin Wang accepted his Asian American identity and the racism that came along with it, would he suffer less?
Shouldn't Sun Wukong tell Jin Wang that the way people treat him is wrong and that he shouldn't be afraid to voice his discomfort? Don't let other people affect your self-worth.
Boxer & Saints is the biggest rebuttal to everything I've just mentioned. Yang portrays Qing China as a superstitious and sexist society that drives people into the arms of foreigners for refuge. But the people also possess a sense of pride for being Chinese and are rightfully angry when some foreigner tries to "correct" their behavior.
He also portrayed the complexity that the Qing rulers felt about the rebellion, some supporting it (I appreciated the inclusion of Prince Tuan 端郡王) and others trying to violently suppress it in order to maintain their crumbling hold over China.
Strangely, I felt that Yang didn't delve into the extent that Western imperialism dug into China during this time. He focused mostly on the religious disputes rather than the economic exploitation and violence that was committed.
I also thought the inclusion of the raccoon was weird, since raccoons aren't native to China
Also, where are the Buddhists?
For just one book, Yang did extensive research to recreate Qing China.
And that's it. For just one book, he did extensive research.
Everything else has just been a disaster.
Take his run on Marvel's Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi: Brothers & Sisters Shang-Chi vs the Marvel Universe Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings Shang-Chi: Master of the Ten Rings
Take a drink every time "Ancient Mandarin" is used in the Shang-Chi comics.
Here's the problem:
"Ancient Mandarin" does not exist. Mandarin is a fairly young language, the earliest form originating in the 12th century (Jurchen Jin Dynasty 金朝 & Mongol Yuan Dynasty 元朝). Even if Shang-Chi and his family spoke in some older variant of Mandarin, it would be called "Old Mandarin".
Cantonese is older than Mandarin and maintains much of the original features (pronunciations, tone structures, etc.) of Ancient Chinese.
But Mandarin is the official language of Taiwan, and Yang is of predominantly Taiwanese descent, so why bother researching mainland China.
It's mentioned that the Five Weapons Society lives like the Qing Dynasty never fell.
Once again, the Qing rulers were Manchurian 滿洲, not Han people 汉族. It would make more sense for the Five Weapons Society to try to revive the Ming Dynasty 明朝.
It would also be a good reflection of mainland Chinese history. After the Mongols conquered China, they founded the Yuan Dynasty 元朝.
In the 14th century, there were many rebellious groups that rose in prominence. the most infamous was the White Lotus Society 白蓮社.
The White Lotus Society 白蓮社 refers to many secret religious and political organizations that originated as a branch sect of Pure Land Buddhism
Eventually, these groups allied with the Red Turbans and sparked the Red Turban Rebellions 紅巾起義, which led to the Fall of the Yuan Dynasty 元朝 (1368).
When the Han people retook control of the Empire, They formed the Ming Dynasty 明朝. The Ming Emperor started a mass movement to "fix" the damage that the Mongols did to China's government and culture. There was a lot of government-sponsored studies and voyages (like the sea exhibition of Zheng He 鄭和), and there was an attempt to eliminate all foreign (especially Mongol) influences to find "authentic Chinese culture."
This was when many of China's famous novels were written: Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義 (14th century) Journey to the West 西遊記 (1592) Investiture of the Gods 封神演義 (16th century)
The Five Weapons Society could have been something similar, a mix of the White Lotus Society 白蓮社 that is practicing the cultural rediscovery of the Ming Dynasty 明朝. They could speak Cantonese, trying to stick to a more "pure form of Chinese", have their followers wear Ming clothing, wear long hair in topknots, and protect the common people from Qing Rulers.
This could also explain the tensions between the Five Weapons Society and the Qing Dynasty 清朝. The former sees the Qing as "foreign barbarian tyrants" that sold out the Han people 汉族 to the British. They would also criticize the court's decadence and extravagant spending while the empire was crumbling.
Minor note: the Qing Dynasty 清朝 didn't necessarily ban martial arts. They banned the possession of weapons, but that ended in 1649 and those weapons were returned. They did teach martial arts in the military, encouraging its teaching for service to the empire instead of rebellion.
They did ban some mystic-militant societies to prevent dissents, and practicing the specific school of Wushu 武术 that those societies taught could put a target on your back, so if you didn't practice those specific schools, learning martial arts would be fine.
And, once again, there is also the problem of how Yang handles non-white, non-Chinese characters.
I previously mentioned how Yang accidentally committed misogynoir against a SEA girl.
In Shang-Chi, he does similar things with a bunch of OCs.
A key example is the (presumably) Black man of Chinese descent: Falo.
He speaks in a very ghetto manner, and our introduction to his character is him trying to rob an elderly white sugar daddy and his escort.
His second characteristic is that he flirts with an underage Zhilan/Sister Staff, which is incest being played for comedy.
Just a thing: If Falo is Zheng Zu's great^n grandson, and Zhilan is Zheng Zu's daughter, then it means she is his great^(n-1) aunt, not his cousin
His third defining scene is that he is glad to learn that he is a descendant of the supervillain Zheng Zu, and he later comes back as a Big Bad Wannabe, used as a pawn by someone who wants to revive Zheng Zu using Falo's blood.
The most obvious problem is that Falo is a stereotype that is being used to prop up the story and show how the other Chinese characters are more competent heirs to Zheng Zu's legacy. He is a walking plot device, and his only personality is a ghetto black teen. And the only notable thing about him is that he is of Chinese descent.
The only thing important about the villainous Token Black Character is that he has Chinese blood, otherwise he is a pathetic side character to be laughed at.
The lore-related problem is that Shang-Chi does have a black relative: M'Nai, the Midnight Sun.
In the pre-movie comics, a village was ravaged by British troops, leaving only one surviving orphan: M'Nai. Shang-Chi's father finds him and adopts the boy as his own. The two boys grow up as brothers and equals, until Shang-Chi betrays his father, and M'Nai is sent to track him down. The story ends in a tragic confrontation between the two brothers, one lives while the other doesn't.
Afterwards, M'Nai gets kidnapped by the Kree, and his story goes completely bonkers and I can't recap it all here
If Yang wanted to write a story about sibling conflict over the Five Weapons Society, use M'Nai and Shi-Hua. Have the two children loyal to their father's legacy fight over who is worthy of it, tearing the world apart, while Master Ling (the court mage) tries to bring in Shang-Chi as a mediator/third option.
Bringing in M'Nai could have also tackled the experience of transcultural/transracial adoptions, and Asian colorism. An African orphan brought into the Five Weapons Society, raised as an equal to Shang-Chi and Shi-Hua.
What was M'Nai's experience growing up in this Sinocentric, isolationist empire? How much of his old cultural practices and beliefs does he still retain? How is he accepted/rejected by the lower ranks of the Five Weapons society? With the emphasis the society places on blood, I imagine that M'Nai would have fought an uphill battle for tolerance, let alone acceptance
This also could have ben an opportunity to display African martial arts, like Dambe, Laamb, N'golo, etc. It would also be interesting to see how M'Nai combines techniques from two different cultures to develop his own unique fighting style.
A more obvious example of Yang's bias is Deady Sabre, or Zheng Takeshi.
Takeshi is of Japanese descent, and is presented as duplicitous and treacherous.
He is the most vocal support of Shang-Chi, but it is revealed that he’s has been plotting behind his brother’s back.
Granted, it is because of this minor plot twist of an omen/prophecy about Shang-Chi that is somewhat resolved
Now, speaking from experience as the child of Chinese Immigrants, a lot of Chinese people harbor a lot of resentment towards the Japanese for war crimes (TW: Rape of Nanking, state of Manchukuo, Comfort Women).
This unfortunately bleeds into a lot of Anti-Japanese sentiment. My parents refused to allow me to participate in an elementary school activity because of it. They were very critical of a Japanese-American friend I had.
I don't think Yang has any actual bias against Japanese people or people of Japanese descent (see Suzy Nakamura for American Born Chinese), but it is rather odd that Takeshi is portrayed as a Manipulative Bastard, while the other siblings are portrayed in a relatively favorable light.
Even Esme/Sister Dagger, the stab-happy French-Chinese girl, is not as overtly villainous as Takeshi. She is portrayed as more prideful, bratty, and misguided than truly malicious.
Strange that Yang cameos French war crimes against the Chinese, but doesn't hold anything against Esme, despite now showing the same grace towards other Westerners
The most egregious example is the introduction of Zheng Zhilan/Sister Staff, a mutant.
Takeshi says, "Our father [Zheng Zu] taught that Mutantkind has the potential to become the most devastating colonial power the world has ever seen!"
After all the above mention of China's colonial/imperialist history, this is laughably ignorant.
A better integration of Zhilan into the story would be Zheng Zu propping her up as a "magician" that he tried to browbeat into serving him. If Mutants is such a devastating power, then the Five Weapons Society could use them to their advantage.
Historically, they could have even recruited Mutants that were persecuted by for "practice of malicious magic" or "yaoguais disguised as humans".
He could also try to offer her as a wife as an incentive to his most loyal/powerful follower. It would allow his daughter to have powerful mutant descendants loyal to the Five Weapons Society, which would further his bloodline and power.
Once again, there is not mention of Buddhism, only Daoism. Like in American Born Chinese, it feels like erasure.
Finally, here are some anti-Western sentiments that Yang included:
Takeshi (talking about Captain America): "Shang, keeping the Cosmic Cube away from others [HYDRA, AIM] is one thing, but working with the likes of him? That's something else entirely!" Esme (towards Wolverine): "This is just like you people always butting into our business!" Takeshi: "Father always said the Westerners were liars, brother [Shang-Chi]! The whole lot of them!" Takeshi: "Them? (points at Avengers) Or Us? (points at Five Weapons Society)" Chieftain Xin: "He [Shang-Chi] sold out his own brother to temporarily appease the Western Powers!" Zhilan: "I watched you [Shang-Chi] hand over Takeshi to those Westerners without a second thought!" Zhilan (meeting the Jade Emperor): "You've lived among Americans for too long, Shang! Bow!"
And that's not including the overall portrayal of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Wolverine, and MI-6.
Note: If Zheng Zu hates foreigners so much, why would he reproduce with a French woman and give Esme a French name? Sounds like a plot hole
