One hundred years ago, China was already known for its legions of workers willing to do any job at any price. The first transcontinental railroads were built largely with Chinese labor, but on the flip side, many Chinese were hired on as strikebreakers. That, combined with the large influx of Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s, earned them no small amount of enmity. To counter that “Yellow Peril” stereotype, Earl Derr Biggers created his immortal character of Charlie Chan.

On this day, December 2, in 1932, the NBC radio network ran for the first time the half-hour drama “Charlie Chan,” about the fictional Hawaii detective that Biggers first brought out in a series of books.

The radio show was essentially an adaptation of Biggers’ novels: Chan, the opposite of the stereotypical Fu Manchu character and modeled loosely on the real-life Honolulu detective Chang Apana, was benevolent and just. Still, in Biggs’ writings and subsequent adaptations Chan reinforced as many stereotypes as he subverted. He was portrayed as weak, subservient, effeminate, the model of the Chinese “other.” Chan’s legacy is mixed, but with numerous radio, television and comic adaptations, it is undeniably strong.