The fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan was the subject of popular books and movies for many decades. In recent years, however, the character has been criticized as an ill image of Asian-Americans. Yunte Huang, an English professor at the University of California, says that's not the case. He has been exploring the character and real-life policeman who inspired him. Charlie Chan has been a familiar character to readers and film-goers, beginning in the 1920s. The detective solved crimes around the world in more than 40 films through the 1940s, and with the invention of television, found a new audience in the 1950s and 1960s. Huang discovered Charlie Chan through books by American author Earl Derr Biggers, who created the character. "One day, I happened to find two Charlie Chan novels. At that point I thought I knew that he was a negative character against Asians, but when I read the book," he says, "I was immediately attracted. Ever since then, I've been a fan of Charlie Chan." As a fan of the books and films, Huang was surprised to learn that Charlie Chan was based on a real detective named Chang Apana, who was born to Chinese parents in Hawaii around 1871. Apana worked as a cowboy, and joined the Honolulu police force in 1898. "He almost immediately became a local legend because as a former cowboy," says Huang, "he would walk the most dangerous areas in Chinatown carrying a bullwhip instead of a gun. He didn't need that." Although some say the image of Charlie Chan, with his broken English, is embarrassing for Asian-Americans, Huang believes Chan's broken English and unusual ancient sayings were part of his charm . "Let me just quote a few - 'Actions speak louder than French,' or 'Mind like parachute  . Only function when open.' Charlie Chan always owes these instructive sayings to Confucius' eastern wisdom. For Huang, the fictional Charlie Chan is highly entertaining, while the real-life policeman, Chang Apana, is a Chinese-American success, whose story is worth telling. It can be inferred from the passage that   _  .
American author Earl Derr Biggers gave an ill picture of Asian-Americans Yunte Huang believes Charlie Chan represents Asian wisdom in some way Chan's story was more popular with TV audience than readers and film-goers Charlie Chan became an ill image of Asian-Americans when it first appeared.