 The character of Charlie Chan was created by Earl Derr Biggers . In 1919 , while visiting Hawaii , Biggers planned a detective novel to be called The House Without a Key . He did not begin to write that novel until four years later , however , when he was inspired to add a Chinese @-@ American police officer to the plot after reading in a newspaper of Chang Apana ( 鄭阿平 ) and Lee Fook , two detectives on the Honolulu police force . Biggers , who disliked the Yellow Peril stereotypes he found when he came to California , explicitly conceived of the character as an alternative : " Sinister and wicked Chinese are old stuff , but an amiable Chinese on the side of law and order has never been used . " 
