History Fanfic / MemoirsOfAMaster

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Ancient China is shown to be incredibly homophobic, which is why Lin had such a difficult time coming out. While you could be forgiven for thinking such, Ancient China was actually more receptive of homosexuality than what you might think. They even had a deity for homosexual couples.

** Actually Ancient China was more receptive of homosexuality than commonly thought, they even had a deity for homosexual couples.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: All the heroes, especially Master Oogway, are revolted by the traditional Chinese treatment of females, especially the traditional footbinding.[note]However, it should be noted that the practice of footbinding was not in fact universally accepted for some time, with it only beginning in the Southern Tang city of Nanjing in the 10th century, limited for a long time to only the wealthiest and most elite women (since poorer families were not allowed such marks of status and it would also run counter to their need for as many workers in the family as possible), and later still would be banned among the Manchus to differentiate them from Han women. So this is both an example of ShownTheirWork and TruthInTelevision.[/note] However, it was justified concerning Shifu, having grown up in a traditional rural family, getting his tail kicked by Yeying when they were children when he sneered at the idea of a girl learning Kung Fu. That said, he gets much better and is later the first to want to defend Yeying who is feeling pressured to return home and submit to such treatment.

Unfortunately, their marriage and this early Five's happy lives are ruined when they are [[EtTuBrute betrayed]] in the attempt to save the Emperor of China from a coup. As a result, [[ItGotWorse a new tyrant takes over, Yeying is reported dead, the Five are scattered, and Master Shifu has to take shelter in the Jade Palace for years under the personal protection of Master Oogway from the new Emperor's bids to kill him]].

* ItGetsWorse: Shifu's attempt to compensate for the loss of his wife by raising and training Tai Lung, which makes his betrayal even more bitter.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: All the heroes, especially Master Oogway, are revolted by the traditional Chinese treatment of females, especially the traditional footbinding. However, it was justified concerning Shifu, having grown up in a traditional rural family, getting his tail kicked by Yeying when they were children when he sneered at the idea of a girl learning Kung Fu. That said, he gets much better and is later the first to want to defend Yeying who is feeling pressured to return home and submit to such treatment.

* FantasticRacism: Aside from the way Red Claw feels about the Huns (TruthInTelevision for many in the empire at that time), there is the way snow leopards are viewed as terrifying avatars of death due to being so distant, aloof, and living high in the cold mountains where so many travelers lose their lives--or else hated due to the ongoing enmity between the Mandarins and the Tibetans. [[spoiler:This is later exploited by [[CompleteMonster Rong Lang]] when he claims the Emperor was behind the plague that slew Shan's clan, and was oppressing the snow leopards, [[ManipulativeBastard to get him to aid in the coup]].]]

* AcceptableFeminineGoals: In the end, [[spoiler:Master Yeying]] is withered and partially broken by all her terrible years since being separated from Shifu, but she's happy at not only having her husband back who loves her just as much as before, but also having children at long last after a fashion with the Furious Five gladly volunteering in that role. This especially goes for Tigress, a beloved daughter she insists on addressing by her old name and is delighted to have her planning to marry the very lovable Po the Dragon Warrior.

What they read is a story about how the precocious youngest son of a rural family of Red Panda rice farmers is picked by Master Oogway to become his student. Eventually, [[{{Nakama}} a group of fellow students arrive]] and they become [[GenerationXerox an earlier generation version]] of the Furious Five who save China from a Mongol invasion (which turns out to be [[spoiler:the equal victims of a [[TreacherousAdvisor traitorous]] [[GeneralRipper Chinese general]] out to [[FinalSolution exterminate them]] and thus sully China's national honor doing so]]). On a more personal level, this Five includes Master Yeying, a beautiful and ferocious feline ActionGirl, whom Shifu eventually marries as the fruition of her father's masterful long term plan to keep her from being pushed into an ArrangedMarriage to an old creditor.

* ComingOutStory: Li goes through the struggle of coming out to his friends, considering how homophobic Ancient China is. However, while Shifu is a bit uncomfortable to be considered attractive to the Fox, all of his {{Nakama}} turned out to already know and are cool with it, including Ren's dying father and of course Master Oogway, although he never went out and said it.

* FireForgedFriendship: Tai Lung and Vachir had this when they first met in battle, which makes the Rhino's later hate for the Leopard after his murderous rampage all the more heartbreaking.

Out of his grief, Shifu tries to make the best of it by raising the DoorstopBaby Tai Lung to be the son he and Yeying never got to have, only to be sent even further into despair when that snow leopard later went berserk and betrayed his father's values at being denied the Dragon Scroll. This led to him finding and adopting Tigress who was denied the clear love she needed from him in his admittedly well-intentioned efforts to avoid his mistakes with Tai Lung.

During this reading, Po and Five come to a greater realization about their master while Po and Tigress's relationship grows even stronger with this perspective. This comes into play when Shifu returns, and playfully reveals that he wanted them to read those scrolls as a ForbiddenFruit ploy so he can help them understand him in a way that simply telling couldn't match.

A long ''KungFuPanda'' [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4576439/1/ Fanfic]] written after the release of the first film and ''Secrets of the Furious Five''.

Unfortunately, their marriage and this early Five's happy lives are ruined when they are [[EtTuBrute betrayed]] in the attempt to save the Emperor of China from a coup. As a result, [[ItGotWorse a new tyrant takes over, Yeying is reported dead, the Five are scattered, and Master Shifu has to take shelter in the Jade Palace for years under the personal protection of Master Oogway from the new Emperor's bids to kill him]].

* DramaticIrony: The thing which was supposed to make Tai Lung feel accepted and honored, being given a family name by the Emperor, ended up leading to his rampage and downfall [[IdiotBall when it was predicated upon Tai Lung receiving the Dragon Scroll]]. Also, the thing that was supposed to protect Shifu and Tai Lung from losing each other, the panda [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies distancing himself and no longer calling the snow leopard his son]], was the very thing that made Tai Lung think he needed the scroll (and a family name) in the first place. And of course, Tai Lung initially began learning kung fu so as to protect his father. Tai Lung's history is [[{{Tragedy}} full of these]].
* DrillSergeantNasty: Terbish is at first portrayed this way, particularly in regards to how he treats his son, but he turns out to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: While the reader isn't directly shown what happens (other than the death of the emperor's wife), the bloodiness of the coup is literally testified to by [[spoiler:Shan]]'s wrist ties, which were once white and are now completely red. To say nothing of the slaughter of Qiang, Terbish, and their men, [[spoiler:Shifu's village and family]], and [[spoiler:the snow leopard clan]]. Despite happening off-screen, the revelation of these deaths is played with such drama and tragedy to feel as if they were witnessed.

* HandicappedBadass: Zigsa.

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: The Wu Sisters turn out to be [[spoiler:Shan's daughters]].

* StarCrossedLovers: Jian Qiang and Miao Li.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: The evil usurper to the Imperial throne learns that you never, ''ever'', threaten Master Oogway, the supreme master of kung fu.

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Justified, since Oogway was the premier kung fu instructor in the empire.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: All the heroes, especially Master Oogway, are revolted by the traditional Chinese treatment of females, especially the traditional footbinding. However, it was justified concerning Shifu, having grown up in a traditional rural family, getting his tail kicked by Yeying when they were children when he sneered at the idea of a girl learning kung fu. That said, he gets much better and is later the first to want to defend Yeying who is feeling pressured to return home and submit to such treatment.

* FemaleSuccessIsFamily: In the end, [[spoiler:Master Yeying]] is withered and partially broken by all her terrible years since being separated from Shifu, but she's happy at not only having her husband back who loves her just as much as before, but also having children at long last after a fashion with the Furious Five gladly volunteering in that role. This especially goes for Tigress, a beloved daughter she insists on addressing by her old name and is delighted to have her planning to marry the very lovable Po the Dragon Warrior.

Out of his grief, Shifu tries to make the best of it by raising the DoorstopBaby Tai Lung to be the son he and Yeying never got to have, only to be sent even further into despair when that snow leopard later went berserk and betrayed his father's values at being denied the Dragon Scroll. This led to him finding and adopting Tigress who was denied the clear love she needed from him in his admittedly misguided efforts to avoid his mistakes with Tai Lung.

All this leads to the moment when the Dragon Warrior was about to be named, the culmination of Master Shifu, Tigress's and the Five's training and sacrifices. However, that is shattered by Po getting dropping out of the sky to get the honor by apparently pure accident. The rest of the memoir is a transcription of the first film from Shifu's point of view as he first tries to drive away Po, only to learn that the panda truly is the Dragon Warrior and proves it to all.

* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Master Yeying fears that Shifu would never take her back after her years of imprisonment being tortured and raped and in paranoid hiding, only to find Shifu only cares that he is reunited with his beloved long lost wife after so long.]]

* FantasticRacism: Aside from the way Red Claw feels about the Huns (TruthInTelevision for many in the empire at that time), there is the way snow leopards are viewed as terrifying avatars of death due to being so distant, aloof, and living high in the cold mountains were so many travelers lose their lives--or else hated due to the ongoing enmity between the Mandarins and the Tibetans. [[spoiler:This is later exploited by [[CompleteMonster Rong Lang]] when he claims the Emperor was behind the plague that slew Shan's clan, and was oppressing the snow leopards, [[ManipulativeBastard to get him to aid in the coup]].]]