Xu Xialing

*"If my dad won't let me into his empire, I'm gonna build my own."*
―Xu Xialing to Katy Chen[src]
**Xu Xialing** (Mandarin: **徐夏靈**) is the current leader of the Ten Rings, the daughter of the mythical warlord Xu Wenwu, and the sister of Shang-Chi. Xialing was not allowed to train alongside the men in her youth, leading her to learn martial arts through observation. When Shang-Chi defected from the Ten Rings, Xialing felt abandoned, also deciding to defect years later. Xialing relocated to Macau, where she founded the Golden Daggers Club. Years later, Xialing was approached by Shang-Chi and Katy Chen, whom the Ten Rings were hunting. The three were eventually captured by the Ten Rings and reunited with their father. Wenwu was preparing to venture into the realm of Ta Lo and reunite with his late wife; his destructive plans alienated Xialing, Shang-Chi, and Chen, leading to their imprisonment. After escaping, they journeyed into Ta Lo and joined the elders in defending their village. Ta Lo's warriors, along with Xialing, later joined forces with the Ten Rings to defeat the Dweller-in-Darkness. In the aftermath, Xialing assumed leadership of the Ten Rings in the wake of her father's death.

### Early Life

Xu Xialing was born to Xu Wenwu and Ying Li, and was the younger sister of Shang-Chi. She and her family lived in the Ten Rings Headquarters in China for many years happily. Ying gave Xialing a dragon pendant that could open the key to the map to Ta Lo. Ying taught Xialing and Shang-Chi many other lessons, but one day while the three were outside, they were confronted by the Iron Gang, who wanted revenge on Wenwu. Ying ushered Xialing and Shang Chi to leave so that she could fight the gang, which resulted in their mother's death.

#### Training Alone

After the death of Ying Li, Xu Wenwu decided to train Xu Shang-Chi to be an assassin for the Ten Rings, but did not allow Xialing to train with the others because she reminded Wenwu of her mother. Despite this, Xialing watched Shang-Chi train with the other assassins from the side, and began to train herself based off of what she had observed, including training with her Rope Dart.

#### Abandoned at Home

When Xialing was ten years old, her brother, Xu Shang-Chi was tasked to finally avenge their mother's death. Xialing expressed her concern that he would leave her alone at the headquarters, but her brother promised that he would return soon. He later realized that he had a chance to escape his father's control and did not fulfill his promise, leaving Xialing alone.

#### New Empire

Six years after her  brother abandoned her, Xialing managed to escape the Ten Rings Headquarters through a secret tunnel passage within the compound. She moved to Macau, where she then founded the fighting club, the Golden Daggers Club, where she befriended Jon Jon.

#### Sibling Reunion

After the Blip, Xu Shang-Chi traveled to Macau with Katy Chen to find Xialing at the Golden Daggers Club. Xu fought her brother in the ring and beat him up. She later told him about about what she had done after he abandoned her. Shang-Chi tried to tell her that their father, Xu Wenwu, was coming soon to take her pendant, like they had him. Xialing was not concerned about this, believing she could face the assassins. While they broke into the club, Xialing left into the elevator of the building with Jon Jon, leaving Shang-Chi and Chen to fight the assassins on the side of the building. When Chen fell off the pole she was clinging onto, Xialing caught her and saved her life. Death Dealer then came and stole Xialing's pendant off her neck before they were confronted by Wenwu.

### Returning Home

Xu Wenwu then captured and took Xialing, Shang-Chi, and Katy Chen in a helicopter to the Ten Rings Headquarters. He instructed Razor Fist to take Xialing and Chen to their rooms so that he could talk privately with her brother. Xialing talked to Chen in her old room about how Wenwu wouldn't let her train with the others as a child, and why she decided to found the Golden Daggers Club.

 File:Shang-Chi EW Still 02.jpg
They later ate dinner and Wenwu explained how he could find Xialing and Shang-Chi. After, Wenwu took them to his office where he explained how he heard Ying Li's voice and how they needed to get to Ta Lo to free her. He placed the Eyes of the Dragon into a statue of a dragon which then revealed the map to Ta Lo. Xialing and the others at first agree to help Wenwu find their mother, but they then realized that the voice he heard was not their mother's. Wenwu then threatened to burn Ta Lo if the villagers did not let him in. The trio then decided that Wenwu must be stopped from doing so.

While they were talking they heard moaning and discovered Trevor Slattery was within the compound as well. Xialing went through the secret tunnel system to meet him. He told them that his pet Dijiang, Morris, could help lead them to Ta Lo. Xu told the others that the secret tunnel system she had used to get in was the one she had used to escape the headquarters as a child, and that it led to the garage, their way out of the compound.

#### Escape from the Ten Rings

After the group left the tunnel system and entered the garage, they realized they would need a vehicle and got into Razor Fist's car. Xialing got into the back seat with Shang-Chi, with Trevor Slattery, Morris and Katy Chen in front. Some of the Ten Rings assassins, including Razor Fist, saw them leave in his car and pursued the group as they were leaving. Xialing got out of the car through the window as it was moving and attacked many of the assassins that were after them.

### Journey Into Ta Lo

#### Meeting a Relative

When Xialing and the others meet the villagers of Ta Lo, Ying Nan emerges and revealed she is the aunt of Xialing and Shang-Chi, expressing her excitement to finally meet Xu and giving her a warm embrace.

### Taking Over the Ten Rings

 File:Xialing (Leader of the Ten Rings).png

*"Let's get started. We have a lot of work to do."*
―Xu Xialing[src]
After leaving Ta Lo, Xialing returned to the Ten Rings Headquarters and became the organization's new leader. She brought about an upheaval of reforms to the Ten Rings, introducing a female unit to train alongside the men in the courtyard, in addition to dismantling a number of its other operations.

While sorting through artwork plastered in her room, she discovered a sketch of her late mother, taking a moment to remember her. Razor Fist then approached Xialing to inform her that her new subordinates were waiting for her orders. With Razor Fist and Jon Jon at her side, Xialing took her seat on the throne her father once held, and announced that the Ten Rings have a lot to work on.

## Personality

Xu Xialing is a cold, rebellious, and complex woman due to being abandoned by her brother and neglected by Xu Wenwu. Because she is a woman, she couldn't train alongside her brother, Shang-Chi, or inherit the Ten Rings, showing that she was looking down on by her father and his men. But regardless, she learned to train on her own by watching Shang-Chi training as observing their movements. She's brash and hardened as showing no mercy in her fights through the underground fighting club while finding some accepted in there and not underestimating for being a woman.

Despite her harsh and cold attitude, she's rather compassionate towards women, enough to save Katy Chen, who didn't know how to fight. Due to her harsh upbringing and being rejected, she's a feminist and wants to have equal rights for herself and other women. She revealed to Chen that she wants women to join the Ten Rings as well as becoming the leader of Ten Rings because she felt that she could change the all-male organization to an equal one where she can accept. Deep down, she's a vulnerable and emotional person who hides through her cold facade.

She has a very strained relationship with her brother who broke their promise of returning to her and her father who neglected her. She didn't mind punching Shang-Chi out of anger while being cold to her father. However, Xu is willing to put feelings aside and teamed up with Shang-Chi to stop their father from destroying Ta Lo village, the home place of their mother. Despite her resentment towards her family, she deeply cared for and loved her mother, Li Ying. She often sketched her in her room where other sketches of her. Also, Xialing still cared about her brother and father. After saving Ta Lo village, Xialing finds it in her heart to forgive her father despite everything he has done. Also, Xialing reconciled with Shang-Chi as she has come to terms that he is one of the few family members she has left in her life.

She misses her mother along with her brother and father. Xialing has shown to respect and care for her mother's homeland as she was willing to do anything to protect, even from her own father. Due to growing up in a cold and harsh environment, Xialing is often amused by Katy's comedic personality.

In constrast to Shang-Chi who wanted to leave his past behind, Xialing always kept her ambitions of joining the Ten Rings. Upon running away from the Ten Rings, she single-handedly founded the Golden Daggers Club, claiming that she would build an empire of her own is she was not allowed into her father's. Following Wenwu's death, Xialing told Shang-Chi that she would shut down the Ten Rings, but she instead decided to seized the opportunity to take control the terrorist organization and continue her father's operations albeit in her own style.

## Abilities

*"I wasn't allowed to train with the boys. But I watched everything they did and taught myself to do it better."*
―Xu Xialing[src]
* **Master Martial Artist**:  File:Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 53.jpg   Xialing is an extremely skilled and formidable hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. Unlike her brother who was trained by the Ten Rings, she was self-taught, which trained herself from a very young age, by observing others and aimed to do better than them, making her one of the most powerful and best fighters on the planet. Her fighting style includes mixed martial arts and Tai chi. She was able to defeat Shang-Chi in Golden Daggers Club, though he was holding back and she was still not as equally skilled as him. She easily defeated numerous armed members of Ten Rings and Razor Fist.
* **Rope Dart Mastery**: Xialing is extremely skilled in using a rope dart for combat even though she was self-taught. She was able to use it to defeat numerous armed members of Ten Rings and Razor Fist.
* **Master Acrobat**: Xialing is an extremely skilled acrobat, gymnast, and aerialist.
* **Gifted Intellect**: *To be added*
* **Expert Tactician**: *To be added*
* **Expert Businesswoman**: *To be added*
* **Bilingualism**: Xialing is fluent in her native Mandarin, as well as English.

## Equipment

### Weapons

* **Xu Xialing's Rope Dart**: In the battle between the people of Ta Lo and the Ten Rings, as well as their united battle against the Soul Eaters, Xialing used a rope dart that had a dart on one end and a meteor hammer on the other.

### Other Equipment

* **Dragon Scale Armor**: Armor made by and given to her by the people of Ta Lo, made out of dragon scales.

### Vehicles

* **Razor Fist's Car**: She was a passenger in Razor Fist's car during their escape from the Ten Rings Compound along with Shang-Chi, Katy, Trevor Slattery, and Morris.

## Facilities

* **Ten Rings Headquarters**:  File:New Leader of the Ten Rings.png   After the death of her father, Xialing took over as the head of the Ten Rings organization. As seen in the post-credits scene, she expanded the organization to allow women to participate, as well as modernized it by installing satellite dishes.
* **Golden Daggers Club**: Xialing founded the Golden Daggers Club since she wasn't allowed into the Ten Rings organization by her father. Every fight is streamed online on the dark web, along with there being bets for each fight.

## Relationships

* Ying Li † - Mother
* Ying Nan - Aunt
* Xu Shang-Chi - Brother and Former Opponent
* Mattias/Razor Fist - Adoptive Brother, Former Attempted Killer and Subordinate

Allies* Katy Chen
* Trevor Slattery
* Morris
* Guang Bo †
* Great Protector
* Ten Rings - Temporary Enemies and Subordinates
	+ Jon Jon
	+ Iron Gang Leader †
* Li Ching-Lin/Death Dealer †
* Soul Eaters
	+ Dweller-in-Darkness †

## Trivia

* In the comics, **Zheng Bao Yu**, currently known as the **Cursed Lotus**, is Zheng Zu's daughter and former-right hand, who decided to rebel against her father and become the leader of her own underworld organization called Golden Daggers, the same name as the fighting club created by Xialing, after her father's death, she became the leader of the organization he created, something that also happened to Xialing. She was formerly known as **Fah Lo Suee**, based on the character of the same name from Sax Rohmer's *Fu Manchu* novels.
	+ In the comics, **Esme**, also known as **Sister Dagger**, is the younger sister of Shang-Chi. She grew up resenting her older brother for "abandoning" the Five Weapons Society, but later forms a close knit bond with him and becomes something of his second-in-command once he becomes the new leader.
* In the comics, the Mandarin has a daughter named **Sasha Hammer**, also known as **Detroit Steel**, who was also the granddaughter of Justin Hammer.

## Behind the Scenes

* The first month of filming, Meng'er Zhang portrayed the character with having a red streak in her hair. After reading a *Teen Vogue* article pointing out how rebellious Asian females in media were portrayed with a color hair extension, Zhang asked director Destin Daniel Cretton that she not wear it in future scenes, to which he agreed.
* Xu Xialing is younger than Xu Shang-Chi. In real life, Meng'er Zhang is two years older than Simu Liu.
* Xiau-Shuang Fan, Millie Lohmann and Fan Xiaoshuang were stunt doubles for Meng'er Zhang in the role of Xu Xialing.
* Jessica Henwick was offered an audition for Xu Xialing, but turned it down to appear in *The Matrix Resurrections*. According to Henwick, one of the factors in her decision was that she didn’t want to put a "lid" on her *Iron Fist* character Colleen Wing potentially returning to the MCU in projects produced by Marvel Studios in the future.

## References

File:Transparent AOU Logo.png
The *Marvel Cinematic Universe* wiki has a collection of images and media related to ***Xu Xialing***.

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 *Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings*
2. ↑ Translates from Mandarin to "Summer"
3. ↑ Shang-Chi Star Meng'er Zhang On Kicking Simu Liu's Ass And Being More Than The Sidekick
4. ↑ Jessica Henwick on ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ and Her ‘Knives Out 2’ Full-Circle Moment

## External Links

* File:WP favicon.PNG Zheng Bao Yu on Wikipedia
* File:WP favicon.PNG Sister Dagger on Wikipedia
* File:WP favicon.PNG Sasha Hammer on Wikipedia
* File:Marvel-favicon.PNG Zheng Bao Yu on Marvel Database
* File:Marvel-favicon.PNG Sister Dagger on Marvel Database
* File:Marvel-favicon.PNG Sasha Hammer on Marvel Database
* File:Marvel-favicon.PNG Xu Xialing on Marvel Database

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