User blog comment:LoveWaffle/We Didn't See It Coming - Iron Man 3 and the Future of the MCU/@comment-5977347-20130513205536/@comment-4651179-20130514013737

But the Mandarin was created in the 60s. In that time stereotypical villains were OK. But it even if it was what most of us wanted, it could be truly offensive for the greatest country in population to have a comic-like Mandarin.

But also, how did Killian come up with the idea of the Mandarin? That's where him being some kind of "fanatic" of Chinese thingies might have influenced the creation of the character. He was the Mandarin, but he needed a Mandarin people would fear.