A hundred years ago, the fictional evil genius called Dr Fu Manchu appeared, described as 'the yellow peril incarnate in one man'. Why did the idea that the Chinese were a threat to Western civilization develop at precisely the time when that country was in chaos, divided against itself, victim of successive famines and utterly incapable of being a 'peril' to anyone?

In this gripping book, Sir Christopher Frayling assembles an astonishing diversity of evidence to show how deeply ingrained Chinaphobia became in the West - acutely relevant again in the new era of Chinese superpower.

Along the way he talks to Edward Said, to the last Governor of Hong Kong, to movie stars and a host of others; he journeys through the opium dens of the 19th century with Dickens; takes us to the heart of popular culture in the music hall, pulp literature and the mass-market press; and shows how film amplifies our assumptions, demonstrating throughout how if we want to understand our deepest desires and fears we neglect the history of popular culture at our own peril.

Christopher Frayling is a former rector of the Royal College of Art and a renowned cultural historian.