 When the show aired, there had not been another Asian-American-centered show or an Asian main character at the time the Ling character was created.Unlike the 1970s depictions of docile East Asian women on TV, Ling's character was the opposite, but still a classic stereotype, that of the Dragon Lady.At the time, she was the only significant representative of Asian women on television in the United States (besides news anchors and reporters), leaving no one else to counteract this prominent stereotype.