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6 Ways The ‘Black Superhero’ Influenced Hollywood and The World

Posted byBy A Moore | Published on: | Updated on August 23, 2020 CommentsComments (17)

Black and Chinese monks

The First Martial Arts Story Had A Black Hero

Martial arts movies have been a staple in both Hollywood and the Far East. In China, during the reign of the Tang Dynasty in the ninth century, there lived a writer named Pei Xing.

Although there is no proof that he was Black,  he wrote what some have called “China’s first martial arts short story,” titled “Kunlun Nu, ” or “The Kunlun Slave.”  It means “The Negrito Slave” or “little Black” slave  in Chinese. In the story, the hero is an enslaved Black man with superpowers.  He can fly and has unmatched martial arts skills – just as in the traditional Chinese martial arts films of past and present.

Ming Dynasty writer and playwright Mei Dingzuo wrote a play titled, “How the Kunlun Slave Became an Immortal.” The play expands upon Pei Xing’s story by explaining how the Black hero used Taoist practices to become immortal and why a past life obligation caused him to remain a slave even though he had superhuman abilities.

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