Most people know there’s a difference between rings and bracelets. What we see in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” are bracelets, but according to Marvel.com, the rings were discovered by the Mandarin in China’s “Valley of the Spirits.” The rings, were rings and the product of a dragon-like race from the planet of Maklu-IV called Axonn-Karr. Originally the rings were used as a power source for the interstellar vehicles, but “the rings’ functions currently cannot be explained by modern Earth science.”

Each ring had a function. On the left hand there was an ice blast, a mento-intensifieer, an electro-blast, a flame blast, and a white light. For the right hand, there was black light, a disintegration beam, vortex beam, impact beam and a matter rearranger. With ten rings, that means both thumbs were a ring. That means you won’t want to shake hands with the Mandarin.

You can read about each function in more detail at Marvel.com. 

For the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Mandarin is another name for Wenwu, the father of Shang-Chi. Originally, Dr. Fu-Manchu was his father, but Marvel no longer has the rights to that fictional character. Fu-Manchu lives on through the writings of an Ohio-born White guy courtesy of permissions from the Sax Rohmer estate.

The Ten Rings are bracelets and it is also the name of a secret terrorist society that kidnapped Tony Stark and are either mentioned or involved in a conflict in “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Iron Man 3,” “Ant-Man” and, of course, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” 

IIn the movie, we see ten rings and within them are symbols representing noble characteristics. Here’s my Google Translate translation:

1. Power, force or strength (Lì 力) [Japanese: chikara]
2. Strong (Zhuàng 壯)
3. Great, extraordinary (Wěi 偉)
4. Outstanding, remarkable, a hero (Jié 傑)
5. Potential (Shì 勢) 
6. Great, grand, magnificent, spacious (Hóng宏)
7. Mighty, Male (Xióng 雄)
8. Powerful, strong (Qiáng 強)
9. Dignified, majesty (Wēi 威)
10. Authority, right (Quán權)

My Chinese isn’t as good as my Japanese so, if you see any mistakes, LMK.