Browsing by Author "Lähde, Anna-Leena"

The study is a postcolonial analysis of the development and history of two Chinese literary stereotypes: John Chinaman and Fu-Manchu. The study argues that the Yellow Peril and the Boxer Rebellion in China affected the change from a passive and foolish stereotype to an actively violent and threatening one. The primary method used in the stdy is a series of close readings of the primary literary sources. The theoretical background of the study comes from Postcolonialism, more specifically Edward Said's Orientalism. The primary sources consist of popular literature, songs and poems that feature the two versions of the Chinese stereotype. The sources dealing with John chinaman come from various authros, hwereas the sources dealing with Fu-Manchu are the three first novels by British author Sax Rohmer. In addition to these additional secondary sourcs consist of historical material dealing with events like the Boxer Rebellion, history of Chinese immigration into the United states and history of Chinese imigrants in Great Britain.