I finished 'American Born Chinese' in 2005, so after that, I started actively researching the Boxer Rebellion.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When I looked into the lives of the Chinese saints, I discovered that many of them had died during the Boxer Rebellion, a war that occurred on Chinese soil in the year 1900.
In the United States in the 20th century, every major event that America was going through, there was a boxer who seemed to symbolically represent it, from slavery to the Vietnam War to the Depression - all the way along, you just seemed to have boxers that carried the narrative.
When 'American Born Chinese' started getting a lot of attention, I freaked out a little bit because I realized that up until then I had just been doing comics by following my gut. I didn't really know much about plot structure or anything; I kind of just followed my gut.
I'm a huge boxing and mixed martial arts fan.
When I was 15 years old, I left school and became a professional boxer.
I certainly gained a lot by reading about Shanghai.
I would like to be remembered as a boxer who tried to do his best.
In order to understand the mindset of a boxer, I needed to become a boxer myself.
America is the mecca of boxing, and they've had some great champions here. It's good to establish your skills and let people know what you're about in the States.
I'm about as Chinese as Herbert Hoover.