m0dernchr0n1cles

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

Yang Jian's Love Life (feat. Ao Guang)

[Yang Jian is locked in a cell]

[The door swings open]

Ao Guang: "Well, well, well. I never thought I'd find you in here, Yang Jian."

Yang Jian: "How did you know who I am?"

Ao Guang: "How could I not? You broke my niece's heart."

Yang Jian: "You're Cinxin's uncle? I never meant to hurt her."

Ao Guang: "Quiet! You're my special prisoner now. And you best behave. If these people found out who you are, the rebel who became Heaven's lapdog... Why, they'd tear you to shreds."

Yang Jian: "So what's in it for you? Why don't you just tell my Uncle and collect the reward."

Ao Guang: (chuckles) "Oh, in due time, believe me, I intend to collect."

[Ao Guang leaves]

[The door slams shut]

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

孙太子：Add a DC Rogue

@journeytothewestresearch @eternal-3clipse @gaaralover55 @nightstar47 @runeiio @avalonnights @mabeljonesrock @lilmissbacon @ryin-silverfish @wonderwomanpleasesteponme @atlamillia @gingersnap2010 @cynicalwindmill @argiphon @madisonthetimewalker @karoxarts @kitsunegdx

I need help with writing 孙太子 (my DC Monkey Prince rewrite & crossover with my Black Myth, New Gods au).

I've been researching DC lore on Ultra-Humanite for 孙太子, and I found the first instance of Ultra-Humanite switching bodies involved a character: Dolores/Delores Winters.

Delores Winters later became the villain Endless Winter, featuring as a major antagonist in a storyline of JSA Classified #19-20 where she runs a metahuman trafficking operation.

I did some more digging and I was disappointed that she was rarely referenced outside of these two instances.

Outside of DC's Stargirl ep.3x12.

What do you think?

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

BABY BINGBING 丙丙 🧊

BABY ZHAZHA 吒吒 🪷

My take on Ne Zha characters

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

What was Ao bing and Nezha's relationship with they're familys before they're banishment? I'm curious on what they're sisters think of them before and after they're reincarnation

I made some posts about their treatment by their respective fathers pre-death.

For Nezha, he and Li Jing had reconciled and they do work together on important military assignments. He’s still more comfortable with Lady Yin and his brothers tho. After Zhenying was born, the family has gotten closer.

After Nezha's banishment, the family fell apart, as you can see here and here.

After being deified, Ao Bing went low-contact with his dad. He’s kept contact with his sister and mother, but they were never close. He had a good relationship with his older brothers (he was more close to Ao Yi) and was devastated when they were killed.

He’s not very comfortable around his aunt and uncles tho.

He has a good relationship with his cousins though, especially Ao Lie (the White Dragon Horse), and they still keep in contact.

As for their sisters, it's complicated.

Nezha and Zhenying were okay, but weren't really that close. When Nezha was banished, she spent a lot of time helping her mother grieve, so she doesn't really have a chance to process her own grief.

When she finds Li Yunxiang and his family, she is happy that her brother okay in any lifetime

Ao Bing and Longnü are in a similar position, especially since they were both Ao Guang's favorites compared to their older brothers. Ever since studying under Guan Yin, Longnü developed a healthier view of her family and is a bit more distant from them. She does realize Ao Bing needs help, and she does her best to help him.

I do have a more complicated storyline when it comes to the Dragon Clan and reincarnation part of Black Myth, New Gods.

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

Family rite-of-passage

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

I've always wanted to do one of these I hope that's okay

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

黑神话，新神榜：Yang Jian's Love Interest

@journeytothewestresearch @eternal-3clipse @gaaralover55 @nightstar47 @runeiio @avalonnights @mabeljonesrock @lilmissbacon @ryin-silverfish @wonderwomanpleasesteponme @atlamillia @gingersnap2010 @cynicalwindmill @argiphon @madisonthetimewalker @karoxarts @kitsunegdx

I need help with my Black Myth, New Gods au (and this will also apply to 孙太子 my DC Monkey Prince rewrite & crossover with my Black Myth, New Gods au).

I've been getting requests about giving Yang Jian/Erlang Shen a love interest (speficially Ao Cinxin, the daughter of the Dragon King of the West), which I am apprehensive about.

I've seen criticism on how shipping and focus on romance can ruin a story, but I asked @ryin-silverfish and they said that as long as it is done well, it doesn't matter.

You do you think?

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

Announcement for 新神榜：孙太子 New Gods: Monkey Prince

Important Update: I finally got a consultant for Cantonese.

In an essay, I previously mentioned that Cantonese is older than Mandarin and much closer to Ancient Chinese than the latter.

For 孙太子, I planned to have certain characters (i.e. The Heavenly Court, Yang Jian, Li Yunxiang, De Clan) speak in Cantonese.

The problem was that I speak Mandarin, so I needed to find someone to help me write the Cantonese lines.

And now I finally found someone!

I know I've been lagging with the updates, but I am still working on it. 孙太子 has not been abandoned. I will soon be releasing some polls and the promised Black Myth, New Gods character list.

Thank you everyone for your patience.

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

How would you imagine if your characters in Black Myth was targeted by Captain Marvel during Civil War II? That they were blamed for a future crime that would might or never happened. What would happened?

Yeah, I read Civil War II and I was unimpressed to say the least.

I'm not really a fan of Captain Marvel, movies or comic-wise.

Carol's self-righteous hard-headedness would actually make her an ideal pawn for the Heavenly Court.

If Captain Marvel went after Yang Jian, good luck finding him. If she somehow found him, she would lose badly.

Remember, Yang Jian had the power and gall to go after the Jade Emperor. Captain "Higher, Further, Faster" wouldn't last a second.

If she went after Li Yunxiang, she'd face a worse problem, à la Samadhi Fire.

If she went after Ao Bing (and by extension, the Dragon Clan), she would not be treated very kindly. If she stays in character (arrogant), then it gets worse.

Can Captain Marvel fight underwater (can she fight good)? If so, please direct me to the comics/movies/TV episodes.

I imagine it goes like this:

Captain Marvel: "Listen, old man."

[Boss De holds up his cane]

Boss De: "The only thing you know about an old man, young lady, is that he has survived much more and much worse than you."

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

How would your characters react & interact with the Marvel characters who believe they are aliens and magic can be explained through science?

Characters like Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Dr Selvig, MCU Jane Foster like for exempel. How would they humble them?

Thanks for the question! I probably will do an MCU crossover after I finish 孙太子.

Fair warning, I never really liked the MCU, and I will be a bit critical of it in my crossover.

I think the Dragon Clan would be very unimpressed about these scientists, especially Ao Guang. He hates it when these people try to worm into his business. Besides, he already has a team of competent scientists and doctors on his payroll.

That said, he is willing (albeit very reluctantly) to do business with Tony Stark for environmental and PR reasons.

Yang Jian is not willing to entertain these people.

No, you cannot go near my ship or enter the engine room. That thing is held together by magic, duct tape, and the nonexistent goodwill of my divine relatives. You will break it.

No, you cannot see my third eye, it's very sensitive. And for the last time, it is a real eye.

No, you cannot "see" his dog without her permission. I see you there, hiding sedatives and test tubes behind your back.

Li Yunxiang would be initially comforted with the explanation of "magic is science", but as he accepts what's going on, he begins to be more open to magic.

Still, he appreciates the help with his disealpunk Hextech projects.

Nezha Reborn is a disealpunk, and I stan by this

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

Lotus root is one of my favorite foods. I'm going to eat Nezha and Ao Bing.

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

新神榜：孙太子 New Gods: Monkey Prince

A spin-off of my Black Myth, New Gods AU

Chapters Masterpost

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

It’s no shock that DC dropped the ball. Look who wrote the “true” origin of DC Nezha.

None of these people are East Asian, and I doubt that any of them did any research or consulted any East Asians.

What's worse is that they try to sell this as the "true origin" of Nezha, that they "separated fact from fiction".

The "true origin" of Nezha feels like flavor text, a lore dump to fill pages and have zero impact on plot or character progression (not that DC has given any of it’s villains any character development recently).

And they didn't do anything special with the finished product. Devil Nezha is the most generic Big Bad, with no interesting motivation or dialogue. They did all this dressing up for a plot device.

They could have just substituted Devil Nezha with any other world-conquering maniac in DC, preferably one that was already established and relevant to DC lore.

If you want to keep the Lazarus Pit connection, just use the League of Assassins.

That would have saved them so much work and not offended billions of people who actually care of Nezha.

As bad as Gene Luen Yang's Monkey Prince was, it was at the very least written by a Chinese American who loved his chosen character (as misguided as it was).

Devil Nezha feels like a passionless, edgy cardboard cutout with flavor text that expects you to take it seriously. These writers are trying to convince you that a plot device is a serious villain.

I have seen your beef with Monkey Prince, and now I have to ask. What is your opinion on DC Comics Devil Nezha?

FUCK THAT. Another insult to Asian culture even moreso when you remember Ne Zha's story and what he represents. Despite his family's shortcomings, the young god sacrificed himself for their salvation out of love.

He represents changing one's destiny despite everything stacked against them. Thus to have Ne Zha become a villain for such low born fruit is greatly insulting. Want a good representation?

Ne Zha 2019 and its sequel(which I haven't watched yet) are the best. Lego Monkie Kid also has an interesting take on the mythological character.

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

I need to how Li jing and Nezha's brothers reacted to his banishment!! Honestly I need to know how everyone reacted to it😭

I already made a brief post about it. I be happy to summarize and elaborate for 孙太子.

Li Jing has shut down and mostly returned to workaholism.

Jinzha has retreated into mediation and followed his father's example.

Muzha knows something (vague advice by Guan Yin), but he doesn't have the full picture. He does realize that it's not safe to talk out loud, so he mostly stays quiet.

Lady Yin is grieving and spending a lot of time in the Lower Realm and visiting her son's temples and altars.

Zhenying is trying to keep the peace. She mostly tries to comfort and support their mother, but she barely has room to grieve herself.

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

If we're following the timeline where Wonder Woman is made of clay, then it's likely she would just be called a "stone demon" 石妖.

It must be a really wake-up call for Diana.

I think Wonder Woman would not trust Yang Jian, Li Yunixiang or De Zheng because of their "Traitor" stample.

Yeah, she would.

A quick encounter with a member of the Heavenly Court would quickly change her tune.

It would also be a big culture shock, learning how different the Court is from Olympus in terms of management and "governance" of mortals.

Not to mention their opinion of "demigods"

I also don't think they would think highly of Zeus or any progeny of Zeus

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

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

[m0dernchr0n1cles]

Fire & Ice Quotes

Li Yunxiang and Ao Bing race

Ao Bing: "Where's the two-wheeler?"

[Li Yunxiang comes in on his motorcycle, landing hard on Ao Bing’s car]

Ao Bing: "HEY! Watch the paint!"