Japanese depictions of the Chinese?

[INCspot]

I've seen a number of Chinese and Hong Kong martial arts films that depict the Japanese as villains (Fist of Fury, Hapkido, King Boxer, Ip Man) and as sympathetic, well-developed characters (Heroes of the East, Martial Arts Master Wong Fei-hung, Fist of Legend, Fearless). Are there any similar Japanese films notable for the way they depict China or the Chinese? They don't have to be action films necessarily.

[jiujitsu77]

honestly....despite the animosity between the two cultures, it makes for good drama for the story. besides, stereotypes exist in any form of communication because it is easier to convey the protagonists/antagonists purpose without going in to much thought....basically making it cut and dry. that tactic is used in not just action and drama, but comedy too....ie how black comedians portray white people in their routines (which i will admit...while it may get old.....it is damn funny at times) im hoping you see what i mean where i am going with this

[INCspot]

I do. But this is for academic research, not idle curiosity or an attempt to stir things up. (I just hadn't thought I'd need to say so in my original post.)

[Takuma]

I don't recall many Chinese characters in Japanese cinema. Some characters or references come to mind, though. This is just a based on personal experience in watching movies, not on any extensive research.

The pacifist war epic The Human Condition shows Chinese war prisoners as victims of the brutal Japanese imperialism. The characters are played by Japanese actors speaking terrible Chinese, but this is probably more due to the era when the films were made (late 50's) than anything else.

Tomisaburô Wakayama plays a Chinese swordsman (was he a bodyguard or something like that?) in the 1st and 4th Sleepy Eyes of Death films. He's displayed as an honourable badass/warrior to the extent Japanese characters of the era were.

If I recall correctly, Etsuko Shihomi plays either Chinese or half Chinese character in Sister Street Fighter. This is because the role was written for Angela Mao, who dropped out at the last moment (in favour of Stoner, which needed new stars after 2/3 of the original cast - Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba, George Lazenby - had either died or dropped out) and was replaced with Shihomi. Toei were probably too lazy to make any changes to the screenplays. There is very little cultural aspect in the film, though.

Shihomi again plays a Chinese cop in Golgo 13: Kowloon Assignment, which takes place in Hong Kong. Typical 70's action.

Koji Wakamatsu's Caterpillar shows its Japanese main character raping Chinese women in war before returning home as a "hero". Wakamatsu, though, was a notoriously radical / political director not afraid to shock and criticize the Japanese society and government.

I don't remember if the topic was specified as Chinese or Korean or Asian in general, but Bouce ko gals is openly critical (in its dialogue) of Japan's wartime comfort women.

Shunji Iwai's Swallowtail Butterfly (which happens to be one of the coolest Japanese films ever made) follows a bigger bunch of outcasts living in the outskirts of Tokyo - most of them very likable characters and many of the Chinese.

You would find Chinese gangsters in several Takashi Miike yakuza films, but those films portray everyone in negative light. Miike's drama film Bird People in China takes place in China.

Similarly, you see some Chinese fighters in martial arts movies, usually in villain roles, but here also there's no bias against a nationality. 70's karate films just needed a wide variety of villains with different fighting styles or weapons, so the villain gang would usually feature bastards from many nations... China, Korea, USA, and mostly Japan of course... There was no political statements here, just an excuse to display different fighting styles.

+ Mamoru Oshii's beautiful road movie Stray Dog: Kerberos Panzer Cops takes place in Taiwan, features Taiwanese female lead, and displays the country in positive light.

In terms of the political situation the separation between Hong Kong and China should be taken into account. In Mainland China there has been plenty of "anti-Japan education" in schools / from the government whenever it suited their goals political (in other times, even post WWII, they have been pro-Japan).

I'm not sure how it was in Hong Kong, but the information flow must have been more free there, while in Mainland China even today government is going for the "selective history teaching" which emphases old grudges with Japan and stays silent of their own problems, the recent internet banning of big yellow ducks being a good example (this was a picture manipulation of the famous Tiananmen photo where a man stops the government troops by standing in front of tanks - a picture that the Chinese government has banned from their citizens seeing and is censored from the "Chinese internet").

In Japan, somewhat similarly, until the 1990's the government was teaching very selected pieces of history to their citizens. This kept most people blissfully ignorant of the more touchy issues of the past, so there hasn't really been much talk about China to one direction or the other until more recently. The situation has changed recently. For example the famous rumours of text books omitting Nanking are based on reality, but grossly exaggerated. Almost no school ever used those, and every single Japanese youngster I've met learned about Nanking in school.

Even then, the history/political teaching in Japan is sloppy. For example, the conflict with Senkakus... most Japanese just don't understand it, because they think it's all about some random islands. They don't know the historical burden well enough to draw the connection, so the younger generations are just confused as to "why China hates us?". In China, on the other hand, the government makes sure every generation knows the historical burden.

The portrayal of Japanese and Chinese in Japanese and Chinese movies seems to be somewhat in line with this. While in Hong Kong movies you have both racist and sympathetic portrayals of Japan, the Japanese haven't dealed with China issues in movies often. When there has been Chinese characters, the portrayal seems to have been positive (surely we can find a few exceptions if we look carefully enough, but nothing remarkable comes to my mind). Hong Kong movies have also been popular in Japan, and Jackie Chan especially is a huge star and someone Japanese girls were having dreams of especially in the 80's and 90's...

So, in short, I think the political environment in China and Hong Kong has resulted in varying and frequent portrayals of Japan in cinema, while in Japan the lack of public political buzz has resulted in the lack of (motivation for filmmakers to include) Chinese characters or Chinese themes in films just in the same way you don't find many other foreign characters in Japanese films either. And of course, Japan has been and still is to some extent a closed society with very few foreigners, so it's natural that Japanese cinema lacks many foreign characters (except maybe Koreans, who are a much bigger political topic in Japan)

[odioustrident]

PQQWZ4WmQ5c

[INCspot]

This is perfect. Thanks!

[whitesnake]

Don't forget the Streetfighter. Sonny Chiba played a half-Chinese Streetfighter. There's a flashback scene in both first and second movies where he remembers his Japanese father being executed when he was a little boy. A Japanese soldier tells him, "Get away from here... Beat it... You'd better shut up. Your father's a traitor and your mother's a whore. You're no Japanese. You're a half-breed. You're scum." That was certainly an attitude held by many Japanese during their occupation of China. But the Streetfighter uses those taunts, and the words of his father, to motivate him to defeat all the opposition.

Ramenman. An entertaining series with a catchy theme song. But I think the use of Chinese characters in Japanese manga and anime is probably a different subject entirely.

[monkeygift]

Most of Asia with perhaps the exception of Thailand is showing Japanese as bad.

[odioustrident]

I actually think anime depictions would be a better example of stereotypes as even the most "low-culture" Japanese films seem to handle Chinese somewhat delicately if at all.

[INCspot]

Anime's fine. Any in particular? (Preferably feature-length films)

[jiujitsu77]

INCspot... I wasn't implying that you had to clarify anything, I was just making sure you knew where I was going with it (and im not being snide when I type this...one of the reasons I hate texting because you cannot convey a person's tone and cadence). If it is for academic purposes? yeah I am pretty sure that guy summed it up best in his post.....and he could have elaborated on it a helluva lot further if he wanted. Once example I can somewhat remember that stirs up MUCH debate even today in japan is the release of the Chinese exploitation film "men behind the sun". It was one of the first of it's kind to deal with the subject, regardless of it being thought of as exploitation. when it was screened in japan.....under much protest......most of the japanese students thought it a joke, almost comparable to something like The Protocols Of the Elders of Zion or something. However, the anecdote goes to something that two men in the audience (both elderly war veterans) both stood up during the Q and A after the film and admitted that it indeed was true, and that they were present at the incident. this caused a HUGE backlash in the media and what followed were many investigations by objective committees (which were from foreign countries), but no one was ever charged with war crimes there I believe. there was even a documentary about the experiments. ok i rambled a bit. that is old news.

On a quick side note, the Streetfighter's character was half Korean, which was VERY taboo at the time in japanese culture. Chiba played the founder of Shorinji Kempo in The Killing Machine...which was very loosley based on Doshin So, who (according to the film) went to China during the war as a japanese subversive/covert ops/spy kinda guy and studied with the Shaolin monks, learning their arts, strengthening his faith in Buddhism, and so on. even in that film, while it respected the art in which it came from and even acknowledged that the birth of most martial arts came from china, it's depictions of Chinese were pretty bad......but it was set during the war. Not overtly nationalistic by any means, seeing as it was made some thirty years later, but still very one sided in its portrayal of the chinese. As for Doshin So....well I can tell from just research that most of that story was embellished much like Chiba's films about the founder of Kyokushin. Doshin So was, from what I gather, very sympathetic towards the chinese in reality.

The japanese do seem, however, to have a HUGE respect for bruce lee. I have noticed in japanese pop culture/cartoons/toys that most kung fu or chinese people were very stereotypically portrayed, but that could be to appeal to a child's simplicity rather than to give in to racism. However, Bruce was seen as something separate, as if the japanese felt he represented ALL Asiatic peoples perhaps? I dunno. But I do know in almost every anime and even some of the more popular japanese martial arts stars of the 70s and early 80s (ie Bronson Lee/Tadashi Yamashita) emulated bruce. Yasuaki Kurata was even noted as being part of the Bruceploitation trend, albeit for a very brief period, and probably even more so abroad to strengthen the films appeal. What is also worthy to note is his role in Fist of Legend. While yet a chinese production, it was a wonderful contrast of culture, style, ideology, and spirit, as well as Kurata's character actually being played by a japanese, that made the film so relevant.

Wow. As i type before work (and please excuse the poor spelling and punctuation, followed by run on sentences) I realize I have yet to really find a sympathetic portrayal of a chinese character in a japanese film, martial art or not. I know they exist because of the aforementioned posts, but it is racking my brain to find more. I don't think i can think of any more direct examples that were not already mentioned, WITH the exception of Zatoichi meets the One Armed Swordsman.

What is an interesting side note is how sensitive we are compared to many other cultures in their portrayals of others in their films (i will exclude other mediums here because that would be too much). Sammo Hung was under some scrutiny for some of his films having "blackface" characters. I don't think these things were done to be intentionally racist. For some reason (and this may have to do with budgetary restraints and how fast HK films churn out the fodder) I think the producers etc. feel that stereotypes are the easiest way to get across to the audience.....meaning that maybe they don't think to highly OF the audience. when screened here, many people would be offended, but when screened abroad, many would not even think to bat an eye.. Not out of hate, but because the audience thinks only "Oh, this character is black or european". That being said, I am sure some of it still is played for a cheap chuckle. I think because we are such a "melting pot", so to speak, that we realize the differences in cultures right away because we are exposed to them. I don't know how often that happens in china or asia, so the need to rely on certain stereotypes to get a certain point across may be greater. I am also gonna add before i close that Bobby Samuels has talked about his hardships in the HK industry, and he has stated how loving and caring Sammo was to him and how he treated Bobby as a good friend, and helped him cross MANY cultural and racial differences while there.

This is going to urge me to find out on my own of other films that deal with similar portrayals. The japanese, as stated, have avoided much of these portrayals perhaps as a way of sweeping the problem under the rug. The chinese seem not to mind (at least for a certain time) to portray the japanese as only villains, comparable only to Gragamels, Svengalis, Brutes, and war mongers.

WAIT A MINUTE? Was not Dersu Uzula about a Chinese person in Russia? Lest we forget our buddy Kurosawa!

(from what I am to understand, despite his obvious marxist influences, Kurosawa was VERY influenced by american films, and is seen even by the japanese as being almost not japanese enough. this also comes in to play the whole "Kurosawa v.s. Ozu" debate with film nerds, as to who represents japanese culture more)

[jiujitsu77]

PQQWZ4WmQ5c

Wow....is this character the ramen man that is also know to U.S. audiences as one of the many M.U.S.C.L.E. men? I forget the original japanese cartoon and reboot, but man those were great toys. also this is one of the things i was referring to when i was talking about toys and whatnot. great find.

Now Takuma. I know I am overthinking this issue but again am just curious. COULD this portayal be seen as racist to a chinese audience? or is it merely a harmless caricature? I am only asking this because I don't really see a racist connection, and am curious as to what someone outside the US think.

but that being said, could it also be a mixture? Example being.....and very poor, I apologize....but like a black superhero, who is sometimes funny (purposefully or incidentally, as most protagonists in cartoons for children are) and has all the characteristics and morals that basic heroes have (and parents want their children to adhere to)...but is still"blackface"? Could that be a possibility?

[Takuma]

For that anime, hard to say anything based on that OP only. So far I don't see anything negative. Anime characters tend to be caricatures - the Japanese ones too. We should be careful of over-analysis, e.g. considering a Chinese character racist just because it's a stereotype, without realizing that all Japanese characters in the same show might also be equally stereotypical.

And yes, there's much more tention towards zainichi Koreans in real life (though not necessarily in movies). That didn't prevent Yusaku Matsuda, whose mother was zainichi Korean, from becoming one of the biggest superstars of all time, though (nor did violence or extramarital affairs).

[odioustrident]

The Ramenman show, more than anything really, speaks to the kung fu and kyonsi fad in 80's / early 90's Japan. The comic foil in the show is a child kyonsi and several ideas in the show are borrowed from manhua / kung fu films. Otherwise it's just Hokuto No Ken set in an orientalist interpretation of Ancient China. The shows begins with a narrator explaining how all martial arts (karate etc..) have their origins in Chinese Kung Fu. The explicit focus of this show is really a novelty as far as manga / anime goes. Ramenman started in the Kinnukiman Muscle franchise, and his appearance could be construed as a racially charged image of Chinese, just as many manga / anime depictions of African-Americans are a little questionable. Who knows.... Either way Ramenman gained his own following... as indicated by the spinoff.

The series / manga Sakigake Otokojuku, on which the live action Be A Man!! Samurai School was based, also has some extensive focus on Chinese martial arts later on.

One thing to note.... many characters in the Ramenman series are named after Chinese dishes. I suspect Japanese children knew only two things about China...the food and the kung fu! Not so different from the average Western child I think. Japan's understanding of other cultures, very generally speaking, has partly been characterized by a lack of exposure.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

...WAIT A MINUTE? Was not Dersu Uzula about a Chinese person in Russia? Lest we forget our buddy Kurosawa!

(from what I am to understand, despite his obvious marxist influences, Kurosawa was VERY influenced by american films, and is seen even by the japanese as being almost not japanese enough. this also comes in to play the whole "Kurosawa v.s. Ozu" debate with film nerds, as to who represents japanese culture more)

I'm curious on what Marxist influences (there had to be some but I am thinking they are less than other influences). Remember some of his Russian influences such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Kurosawa did a film version of The Idiot) were conservative.

Kurosawa was indeed influenced by filmmakers such as John Ford*, Charlie Chaplin, William S. Hart films, though he really was influenced from all over the world in both cinema and literature. Kurosawa saw a lot of cinema growing up, partially because his brother was a silent-movie benshi.

I always found it weird that Ozu has been stated as "too Japanese" for western audiences. His films are quite humanistic and I find them to translate rather well.

* John Ford actually visited a set of Kurosawas, though Akira would not find out later until he met Ford in England years later.

Back on topic: anyone see Mr. Thank You (1936) by Hiroshi Shimizu which shows the Koreans in a simpathetic light doing the road construction in Japan?

[jiujitsu77]

good analysis. I too dig ozu, even tho i thought like when i was younger i thought was going to witness action, eventually i just fell for the characters.. i think the reason Ozu is considered too japanese is not so much because of the characters themselves, but their surroundings and roles in society that make people think that way. you can basically transcend any culture by showing how people just interact. of course it does help to know a little about what they think and why, but overall people are people i suppose.

i know for a fact here ( and i apologize while im at work) a quick example, albeit maybe poor, of marxist influences was Mifune's tirade about samurais in "seven samurai". what people don't understand very much is that in the west, if you picked up a gun or moved, you could become something like an outlaw or a cowboy. not so much in japan. class structure was almost never elevated, and the samurai knew it. I can also remember certain scenes in redbeard and whatnot, but again im at work. i read his analysis of marxism in one of his biographies as well, and i remember him saying how much he took it to heart.

[jiujitsu77]

ON another side note, I think it is good to note how sympathetic Kurosawa was in general. He seemed to have a love hate relationship with humanity, as well as himself.

Mifune, from what little I do know of him, was actually quite fond of chiinese culture. He, as well as Tamba and a few others, were very well versed in the manchurian language. I am guessing because of his service in the war. I just remember reading that he had very little trouble when shooting films around there because he could speak the language and got on so well with the people

[Yakuza954]

WAIT A MINUTE? Was not Dersu Uzula about a Chinese person in Russia? Lest we forget our buddy Kurosawa!

He was a Nanai, which meant he had more in common with Mongolians, Manchurians and native Siberian peoples than Han Chinese.

[jiujitsu77]

He was a Nanai, which meant he had more in common with Mongolians, Manchurians and native Siberian peoples than Han Chinese.

much like people from tuva? if i remember correctly, and I will be honest, it has been years since I almost finished the film, the character did have what seemed to be a mongolian looking garb. So that makes more sense.

while not chinese, i finally got my hands on toho's american release of half human., which is banned because of it's depictions of the Anu people. What confounds me is why this seems to be one of only few (if any) that were banned because of racial stereotypes in japan. would anyone know of any others?

[masterofoneinchpunch]

He was a Nanai, which meant he had more in common with Mongolians, Manchurians and native Siberian peoples than Han Chinese.

Here is an interesting quotation on this subject from Donald Richie which fits your comment and this thread in general:

[on Dersu Uzala] "Asians like Chen Pao and Dersu Uzala are shown to hate the Chinese and to welcome the Russians, as if the Chinese were the colonizers of this area when in fact the Russians are. The local tribes are to chose between exploitative Chinese and beneficent Russians; self-determination is, needless to say, never suggested as an option. Such moments of Soviet anti-Chinese propaganda remind us of the artistic limitations inherent in a Soviet-sponsored film."

[jiujitsu77]

well that does help with giving me a better view of the film and/or cultures involved in the story. I will have to watch it again.

As for my other post, I should correct myself as it is driving me crazy. It was Mandarin that they learned, not "Manchurian".

[masterofoneinchpunch]

well that does help with giving me a better view of the film and/or cultures involved in the story. I will have to watch it again.

As for my other post, I should correct myself as it is driving me crazy. It was Mandarin that they learned, not "Manchurian".

The quote is from Richie's The Films of Akira Kurosawa which is one of my favorite Kurosawa books alongside Kurosawa's autobiography Something Like an Autobiography (while it is great that he wrote an autobiography I would have liked him to go past the time period of Rashoman).

[Secret Executioner]

while not chinese, i finally got my hands on toho's american release of half human., which is banned because of it's depictions of the Anu people. What confounds me is why this seems to be one of only few (if any) that were banned because of racial stereotypes in japan. would anyone know of any others?

Hadn't heard of that film before but this story on the banning makes me curious about it.

[Killer Meteor]

I think the charges against Half Human were not that it depicts the Ainu but rather the Burakumin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin

[John]

Chinese were recently depicted in the anime feature Sword of the Stranger (2007). Despite some really bad Mandarin, they're well played antagonists who are bad because they're bad, not Chinese. The main antagonist is characterized quite well, and they're not the only villains either.