A Fu Manchu moustache or simply Fu Manchu, is a full, straight
moustache extending from under the nose past the corners of the mouth and growing downward past the clean-shaven lips and chin in two tapered "tendrils", often extending past the jawline. An expansion of the Fu Manchu sometimes includes a third long "tendril" descending from a small patch on the chin.
The Fu Manchu moustache derives its name from
Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic ...
, a fictional character created by English author
Sax Rohmer, who is shown wearing such a moustache in film adaptations of Rohmer's stories. The literary Fu Manchu did not wear a moustache. The famous
facial hair
Facial hair is hair grown on the face, usually on the chin, cheeks, and upper lip region. It is typically a secondary sex characteristic of human males. Men typically start developing facial hair in the later stages of puberty or adolescence, ...
first appeared in the British serial ''
The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu'' (1929); the Fu Manchu moustache then became integral to cinematic and television
stereotypical depictions of Chinese villains.
The facial hair style is often used to stereotype Asian, more specifically Chinese, ethnicity. Many caricatures of Chinese in the 19th and early 20th century depict Chinese with such facial hair. The Fu Manchu is a category of competition in the
World Beard and Moustache Championships
The World Beard and Moustache Championships is a biennial competition hosted by the World Beard and Moustache Association (WBMA), in which men with beards and moustaches display lengthy, highly styled facial hair.
Contest synopsis
Since 2004, t ...
.
Confusion with horseshoe moustache
The Fu Manchu is similar to (and commonly confused with) the
horseshoe
A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...
(or "biker") moustache; the difference between the two types is that the Fu Manchu is grown exclusively from the corners of the upper lip, creating two long "tendrils" that hang down past the clean-shaven mouth and chin area. The horseshoe simply involves growing the hair on either side of the lips and chin along with the mustache, thus creating the inverted-U or horseshoe shape, with none of the hair hanging over the jawline.
A true Fu Manchu is considerably more difficult and time-consuming to produce as compared to the horseshoe; one mustache-centered publication declares "You probably don't know anybody who has a
ealFu Manchu."
See also
*
List of moustache styles
References
External links
*
{{Human hair
Stereotypes of East Asians
Moustache styles
Fu Manchu