Is Fu Manchu Still Alive? Sexuality and Yellow Peril Stereotypes Among White Expatriates in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper examines the oscillations of Western stereotypes regarding the Chinese. The research uses a multidisciplinary approach by combining a genealogical study of the character of Fu Manchu with recent fieldwork in Taiwan among Western expatriates. The combination of these studies reveal an insight regarding the staging of whiteness from the global scale of international relations down to micro performances of quotidian expatriate life. A particular focus is on how expatriates make use of spatial configurations to accentuate their fantasies of superiority. The paper identifies the universalism of such Western performances as a parochial cultural element and embraces a method of conducting fieldwork without denying the subjectivity of the ethnographer.