THE MANY FACES OF FU MANCHU:WHITE EX- PATRIATE COMMUNITY IN TAIWAN AND THE GENEALOGY OF A RACIST STEREOTYPE

This study is the product of a four-year-long fieldwork in Taiwan. During that time, I examined the racist stereotypes of white, western people living in Taiwan on the natives. I compared the data I gathered from the field work with the Chinese stereotype that is prevalent in the popular culture. The results show the importance of racist generalization in white westerners’ self-perception. The character called Fu Manchu, which emerges in various different media since 1913, appears to be an important means in measuring these changing perception