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Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History
A trenchant reclamation of the Chinese American movie star, whose battles against cinematic exploitation and endemic racism are set against the currents of twentieth-century history.
Born into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905-1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood's most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—"Orientally yours." Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong's tragic life story, retracing her journey from Chinatown to silent-era Hollywood, and from Weimar Berlin to decadent, prewar Shanghai, and capturing American television in its infancy. As Huang shows, Wong's rendezvous with history features a remarkable parade of characters, including a smitten Walter Benjamin and (an equally smitten) Marlene Dietrich. Challenging the parodically racist perceptions of Wong as a "Dragon Lady," "Madame Butterfly," or "China Doll," Huang's biography becomes a truly resonant work of history that reflects the raging anti-Chinese xenophobia, unabashed sexism, and ageism toward women that defined both Hollywood and America in Wong's all-too-brief fifty-six years on earth.
Born into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905-1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood's most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—"Orientally yours." Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong's tragic life story, retracing her journey from Chinatown to silent-era Hollywood, and from Weimar Berlin to decadent, prewar Shanghai, and capturing American television in its infancy. As Huang shows, Wong's rendezvous with history features a remarkable parade of characters, including a smitten Walter Benjamin and (an equally smitten) Marlene Dietrich. Challenging the parodically racist perceptions of Wong as a "Dragon Lady," "Madame Butterfly," or "China Doll," Huang's biography becomes a truly resonant work of history that reflects the raging anti-Chinese xenophobia, unabashed sexism, and ageism toward women that defined both Hollywood and America in Wong's all-too-brief fifty-six years on earth.
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First published August 22, 2023
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About the author
Yunte Huang
11 books70 followersYunte Huang a professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the author of Transpacific Imaginations and Charlie Chan. Born in China, he lives in Santa Barbara, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
August 4, 2024
While I pride myself on consuming Asian diaspora media, I didn’t know about Anna May Wong until Gemma Chan channeled her at the MET Gala. A film star at the height of racism, Anna pioneered the way for Chinese Americans in film. Growing up, my mom remembers Joy Luck Club as the only representation she saw in books and on film. For me, it’s Crazy Rich Asians.
📖 Thank you to Goodreads and Liveright
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Liveright
🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio
📖 Thank you to Goodreads and Liveright
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Liveright
🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio
December 6, 2023
I knew nothing about Anna May Wong before picking this book up. I had heard of her but never watched any of her movies This was a clear case of a cover buy, I mean look at that cover. I needed to have this book. It's gorgeous.
Anna May Wong was America's first Chinese American movie star. She was for a short few years one of the most famous actresses in the world. She was beautiful and talented, she should have been even bigger than she was but...racism. Hollywood did was it still does till this very day, it gave her a few very stereotypical "Asian" roles and it gave the big "Asian" roles to white actors.
Remember when Scarlett Johansson(is that how her name is spelled? I don't care enough to look it up) was as a Japanese woman?
Or when Emma Stone was cast as a Hawaiian woman?
Hollywood has always been racist and it always will be. That's unfortunately just facts. There was no reason for Hollywood to have not cast one Chinese or Asian person in the film version of The Good Earth, Anna May Wong audition was deemed not "Asian enough" so they cast Louise Rainer a white woman...Make it make sense!
Anna May Wong had to not only deal with racism in America for being Chinese American but she also had to work hard to be considered Chinese to Chinese people when she spent time in China. This book made me feel incredibly sad not just for Anna May Wong but for all the Chinese actors who never even got the chance to reach Wong's level. Every movie reviewer raved about her acting abilities but she still spent long periods unable to get a job, her last movie role was in 1947. She was still young but Hollywood had moved on.
I'm going to look up her movies, I'm sure Criterion has some and I'm going to watch her in action. If she's as good as everyone says she was it's going to piss me off. Anna May Wong deserved so much better and so do the Asian actors who came after her.
Side note: I need to read more about The Chinese Exclusion Act.
Daughter of the Dragon is a well researched biography of a unsung actress who deserved a bigger career and deserves to be remembered and celebrated. A must read!
Anna May Wong was America's first Chinese American movie star. She was for a short few years one of the most famous actresses in the world. She was beautiful and talented, she should have been even bigger than she was but...racism. Hollywood did was it still does till this very day, it gave her a few very stereotypical "Asian" roles and it gave the big "Asian" roles to white actors.
Remember when Scarlett Johansson(is that how her name is spelled? I don't care enough to look it up) was as a Japanese woman?
Or when Emma Stone was cast as a Hawaiian woman?
Hollywood has always been racist and it always will be. That's unfortunately just facts. There was no reason for Hollywood to have not cast one Chinese or Asian person in the film version of The Good Earth, Anna May Wong audition was deemed not "Asian enough" so they cast Louise Rainer a white woman...Make it make sense!
Anna May Wong had to not only deal with racism in America for being Chinese American but she also had to work hard to be considered Chinese to Chinese people when she spent time in China. This book made me feel incredibly sad not just for Anna May Wong but for all the Chinese actors who never even got the chance to reach Wong's level. Every movie reviewer raved about her acting abilities but she still spent long periods unable to get a job, her last movie role was in 1947. She was still young but Hollywood had moved on.
I'm going to look up her movies, I'm sure Criterion has some and I'm going to watch her in action. If she's as good as everyone says she was it's going to piss me off. Anna May Wong deserved so much better and so do the Asian actors who came after her.
Side note: I need to read more about The Chinese Exclusion Act.
Daughter of the Dragon is a well researched biography of a unsung actress who deserved a bigger career and deserves to be remembered and celebrated. A must read!
June 8, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.
I’ve always been interested in old film and Anna May Wong is one of the most fascinating starlets of the pre-war era. This book does a really good job of painting g a picture of what the world looked like for a Chinese American during Wong’s lifetime as well as filling the reader in on history pertaining to WWII that isn’t taught in American history classes. It drags at times and in certain places makes assertions about things that were already mentioned as being impossible to prove. I understand including speculation as long as it’s not referred to as fact later.
Overall this is a fair read. Not the best biography I’ve read but pretty well researched.
I’ve always been interested in old film and Anna May Wong is one of the most fascinating starlets of the pre-war era. This book does a really good job of painting g a picture of what the world looked like for a Chinese American during Wong’s lifetime as well as filling the reader in on history pertaining to WWII that isn’t taught in American history classes. It drags at times and in certain places makes assertions about things that were already mentioned as being impossible to prove. I understand including speculation as long as it’s not referred to as fact later.
Overall this is a fair read. Not the best biography I’ve read but pretty well researched.
May 27, 2024
Anna May Wong "lived at a time when a Chinese would be deemed 'too Chinese' to play [a mainstream] role - a cultural absurdity plaguing both Hollywood and Main Street USA, a racial attitude that imposed a virtual form of foot-binding on Wong throughout her career."
Wong faced "the 'triple-jeopardy' of race, gender, and age in Hollywood" at a time when women and non-whites had everything working against them.
This book was informative from multiple standpoints. Readers get to read about a woman that time has largely forgot but who was the go-to Asian in Hollywood, at least in her younger years. But we also get a backstory of Chinese immigrants in California and the discrimination and racism they faced in their everyday lives. These humiliating laws were "intended for two purposes: to exclude the Chinese from competitive employment sectors and to make life in California intolerable for them."
Wong was a star that burned too brightly and was gone too soon. The way Hollywood used her and then spit her out was hard to read but must have been 10 times more painful for Wong to experience. This was a heartbreaking but informative read.
Wong faced "the 'triple-jeopardy' of race, gender, and age in Hollywood" at a time when women and non-whites had everything working against them.
This book was informative from multiple standpoints. Readers get to read about a woman that time has largely forgot but who was the go-to Asian in Hollywood, at least in her younger years. But we also get a backstory of Chinese immigrants in California and the discrimination and racism they faced in their everyday lives. These humiliating laws were "intended for two purposes: to exclude the Chinese from competitive employment sectors and to make life in California intolerable for them."
Wong was a star that burned too brightly and was gone too soon. The way Hollywood used her and then spit her out was hard to read but must have been 10 times more painful for Wong to experience. This was a heartbreaking but informative read.
September 3, 2023
4.5, rounded up
February 13, 2025
Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Yunte Huang provides an in-depth overview of Anna May Wong’s illustrious film career in Daughter of the Dragon. Born in 1905, Wong’s Chinese American heritage at first prevented her from reaching stardom in the U.S. but when she began acting in Europe and Australia, Wong experienced Hollywood icon status. She spent her early years with her family who owned a laundromat against the backdrop of heightened anti-Asian racism. When she began her career, Wong was featured in a few productions as an extra and in minor acting roles. It was Wong’s tragic main lead role as Lotus Flower in The Troll of the Sea that brought her critical acclaim. Huang stresses the importance of Wong’s place in the film because it was, notably, the first technicolour production. Other films such as The Thief of Baghdad, Daughter of the Dragon, and Shanghai Express enabled Wong to open new doors for herself such as acting on Broadway and studying Peking Opera in Beijing. As her high profile in Hollywood dwindled because of ageism, Wong found other avenues to occupy her time such as premiering a China documentary and taking walks through Chinatown to revisit her childhood.
Huang’s work is well-researched and informative, featuring a collection of photographs from Wong’s career throughout the book. He also spends a considerable amount of time exploring other important events aside from Wong’s life story such as Hollywood’s 20th century beginnings, the 1927 grand opening of the Grauman Chinese Theatre, and Los Angeles’ history as a city. Huang explains how Chinatown signaled a huge demographic change for Los Angeles because the city provided Chinese immigrants a place to thrive as a community and endure decades of racism, discriminatory legislation, and violence. Overall, Daughter of the Dragon is a valuable contribution to film history and Anna May Wong, one of the U.S.’ most celebrated Asian American actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Yunte Huang provides an in-depth overview of Anna May Wong’s illustrious film career in Daughter of the Dragon. Born in 1905, Wong’s Chinese American heritage at first prevented her from reaching stardom in the U.S. but when she began acting in Europe and Australia, Wong experienced Hollywood icon status. She spent her early years with her family who owned a laundromat against the backdrop of heightened anti-Asian racism. When she began her career, Wong was featured in a few productions as an extra and in minor acting roles. It was Wong’s tragic main lead role as Lotus Flower in The Troll of the Sea that brought her critical acclaim. Huang stresses the importance of Wong’s place in the film because it was, notably, the first technicolour production. Other films such as The Thief of Baghdad, Daughter of the Dragon, and Shanghai Express enabled Wong to open new doors for herself such as acting on Broadway and studying Peking Opera in Beijing. As her high profile in Hollywood dwindled because of ageism, Wong found other avenues to occupy her time such as premiering a China documentary and taking walks through Chinatown to revisit her childhood.
Huang’s work is well-researched and informative, featuring a collection of photographs from Wong’s career throughout the book. He also spends a considerable amount of time exploring other important events aside from Wong’s life story such as Hollywood’s 20th century beginnings, the 1927 grand opening of the Grauman Chinese Theatre, and Los Angeles’ history as a city. Huang explains how Chinatown signaled a huge demographic change for Los Angeles because the city provided Chinese immigrants a place to thrive as a community and endure decades of racism, discriminatory legislation, and violence. Overall, Daughter of the Dragon is a valuable contribution to film history and Anna May Wong, one of the U.S.’ most celebrated Asian American actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2023
Full Disclosure: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of Daughter of the Dragon by Yunte Huang from W. W. Norton & Company via NetGalley.
Daughter of the Dragon is the third book in the Rendezvous with American History series by Yunte Huang. While this book focuses on Anna May Wong, the other two are about Charlie Chan and Chang and Eng Bunker. They are all standalone biographies so feel free to read one, two, or all and in any order.
Even though some of the movies don't hold up well, and Hollywood can be a terrible place, I still enjoy old movies. I grew up on them. I was thrilled to have a chance to read Anna May Wong's story because there were seemingly so few diverse actors, and she definitely left an impression. Her story is really amazing. I realize some people may consider her problematic because she perpetuated a stereotype. The book counters that she fought against a racist, homophobic, misogynistic society/system as best she could. She strongly supported the Chinese American community and felt responsible for representing China in a good light. I highly recommend it for those interested in Chinese American history.
For those who may be sensitive to racist terms or stereotypes, be aware that this book uses them within the context of how Asians were seen at the time. The book does not shy away from talking about the antagonistic relationship between Chinese and Japanese Americans, or the role Chinese Americans played in Japanese American internment.
Daughter of the Dragon is the third book in the Rendezvous with American History series by Yunte Huang. While this book focuses on Anna May Wong, the other two are about Charlie Chan and Chang and Eng Bunker. They are all standalone biographies so feel free to read one, two, or all and in any order.
Even though some of the movies don't hold up well, and Hollywood can be a terrible place, I still enjoy old movies. I grew up on them. I was thrilled to have a chance to read Anna May Wong's story because there were seemingly so few diverse actors, and she definitely left an impression. Her story is really amazing. I realize some people may consider her problematic because she perpetuated a stereotype. The book counters that she fought against a racist, homophobic, misogynistic society/system as best she could. She strongly supported the Chinese American community and felt responsible for representing China in a good light. I highly recommend it for those interested in Chinese American history.
For those who may be sensitive to racist terms or stereotypes, be aware that this book uses them within the context of how Asians were seen at the time. The book does not shy away from talking about the antagonistic relationship between Chinese and Japanese Americans, or the role Chinese Americans played in Japanese American internment.
May 8, 2025
Deeply informative about the life and career of Anna May Wong, detailing her accomplishments and bringing insight into her emotions. This is also a fantastic introduction of the history of Asian Americans and the legal and cultural oppression they’ve faced, and a peak into Old Hollywood glamour and scandal. And this is key, it’s a nonfiction book with creative flair in its writing style, which makes it a 5/5 for me!
January 24, 2024
Meticulously researched and incredibly vibrant portrait of Anna May Wong. I love a good biography of 20s/30s actors--this was a fabulous addition to my bookshelf. I loved how Huang was able to contextualize her life, her choices, and her actions through his detailed research on Chinese American life and the state of China itself during Anna May's era.
October 2, 2023
I do love it when fascinating pop culture history mixes with stories that need more exposure...and this book pays off that combination in any number of winning ways. A story of almost-making it in Hollywood, a story of endless systemic racism, and a story of resilience and fortitude. It's an epic read, and a satisfying one to boot. Anna May deserves even more credit than she receives in this day and age.
January 16, 2024
A fascinating biography of Ms Wong that not only paints a detailed portrait of her life and career but gives an astounding amount of context to the historical period she lived through. From anti-Chinese early 20th century America, to the Weimar Republic, to pre-Japanese invasion China, Ms Wong found herself in moments that allowed her to thrive while also seeing the last remnants of peace of the 20th century. Recommend for film fans, history buffs, and LA historians.
February 19, 2024
Would give 3.5 if possible but did not feel that this was quite 4 stars worthy. It’s weird reading your professor’s book. I think it’s well-written and as interesting as the form and subject matter allows. Simply just not my cup of tea in all of its stylistic choices. And i am certainly holding the novel’s mistake of labeling W.B. Yeats as ‘American’ against it.
December 30, 2023
Lisa See made me aware of this actress.
November 7, 2023
Was it necessary to spoil the climax of Sunset Boulevard??
August 24, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the advanced reader copy!
4.0
A very interesting look into how Hollywood treated Asian-American actors during the rise of cinema in the early 20th Century and their racist past. I was not expecting this book to be a very educational read, and I was pleasantly surprised! I knew of Anna May Wong and how she helped to pioneer Asian American actors in Hollywood but I didn't know much of her struggle with being an actor. This was a well-written biography that delves into the racist past of Hollywood and the exploitation of Chinese people in America for films, and I was blown away by how much I learned. Good examples of terrible, terrible yellowface were given, and it really makes you think about how hard it must have been for someone like Anna May Wong to even get roles in the film industry.
The narrative is a linear progression of Wong's life, from the beginning of Chinese migrants in America and their roots in laundromats to her childish interest in acting, to her lack of career as a main lead in movies about Asians, and to her struggling end. The book adds lots of information that is not relevant to Wong herself but gives a lot of context to the time she was living in. I can see how people would find this long and irrelevant, but I think it paints a picture of the rise of Hollywood and the racist rules of the time so that you can understand why Wong was not as much of a household name as other white actresses of her time.
I felt deeply for Wong's struggle, she jumped from place to place in order to find somewhere that would accept her, because neither Hollywood nor Chinese theatre would, and that really resonated with me - she was so alien to both America and China that she was always finding somewhere to be. I also was very angry for her that characters that were written as Chinese were portrayed by yellowface actors and Wong would only get the secondary role as the best friend or maid or serving girl or something; that was very eye-opening and I think people should know that Asians have never had it easy.
I liked the way that this was written - very academic, gave lots of past examples, used references, and tried to be as unbiased as possible towards Wong. I like the criticisms of actors in yellowface, the racism of Hollywood and the unjust treatment of POC in Hollywood. The only criticism I would have is that Yunte Huang tends to go on a tangent A LOT and I feel like he just needs to stick to a purpose with each chapter and run with it, there was a lot of running text that I felt could have been done away with.
4.0
A very interesting look into how Hollywood treated Asian-American actors during the rise of cinema in the early 20th Century and their racist past. I was not expecting this book to be a very educational read, and I was pleasantly surprised! I knew of Anna May Wong and how she helped to pioneer Asian American actors in Hollywood but I didn't know much of her struggle with being an actor. This was a well-written biography that delves into the racist past of Hollywood and the exploitation of Chinese people in America for films, and I was blown away by how much I learned. Good examples of terrible, terrible yellowface were given, and it really makes you think about how hard it must have been for someone like Anna May Wong to even get roles in the film industry.
The narrative is a linear progression of Wong's life, from the beginning of Chinese migrants in America and their roots in laundromats to her childish interest in acting, to her lack of career as a main lead in movies about Asians, and to her struggling end. The book adds lots of information that is not relevant to Wong herself but gives a lot of context to the time she was living in. I can see how people would find this long and irrelevant, but I think it paints a picture of the rise of Hollywood and the racist rules of the time so that you can understand why Wong was not as much of a household name as other white actresses of her time.
I felt deeply for Wong's struggle, she jumped from place to place in order to find somewhere that would accept her, because neither Hollywood nor Chinese theatre would, and that really resonated with me - she was so alien to both America and China that she was always finding somewhere to be. I also was very angry for her that characters that were written as Chinese were portrayed by yellowface actors and Wong would only get the secondary role as the best friend or maid or serving girl or something; that was very eye-opening and I think people should know that Asians have never had it easy.
I liked the way that this was written - very academic, gave lots of past examples, used references, and tried to be as unbiased as possible towards Wong. I like the criticisms of actors in yellowface, the racism of Hollywood and the unjust treatment of POC in Hollywood. The only criticism I would have is that Yunte Huang tends to go on a tangent A LOT and I feel like he just needs to stick to a purpose with each chapter and run with it, there was a lot of running text that I felt could have been done away with.
October 1, 2023
Daughter of the Dragon by Yunte Huang
A very interesting biography of a movie star who couldn’t get the roles she deserved due to the racism that was endemic in Hollywood as far as Chinese were concerned. Her story is also the story of movies from the silent era well into current times. Quite the story as well of our country’s very ambiguous relationship with China over the past 150 years. Including the building of our railroads, the Chinese Exclusion act, “yellow face” just like “black face” actors instead of indigenous…. and our relationship with Chiang and then communist China.
Part 1 Fun in a Chinese laundry
Prr 2 Becoming Anna May
The issues of racism arise from the beginning in this biography; Ann Wong rises to be a star, despite it. Her lead role in The Toll of the Sea in 1922 as Lotus Flower parallels the Butterfly story.
Hollywood Production Code of 1922 restricted Anna May Wong’s options in film…
But she is quite successful in.The Thief of Baghdad, in NYC and in Berlin.
But she discovers there are not so many Chinese parts for her.
The Jazz singer also illustrates the American dialectic of simultaneous repulsion and desire…which are in the foundation of our art and literature.
And the film Old San Francisco is even more racist than Gone with the Wind.
Part 3: Orientally yours…
And in 1928 Anna May Wong goes to Germany, at the time less racist in its movies, than Hollywood!
Beckmann’s Eden Bar Group
Orientally yours… is how she signs off, in Weimar Germany….
lyrical description of Walter Benjamin meeting and becoming intoxicated by “May Wong,” in the very twilight of Weimar Germany.
Using a 35mm camera, Eisenstaedt captured world leaders, celebrities, artists, and everyday people and scenes with decision and tenderness. Among his most famous ...
Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong, and Leni Riefenstahl at Artist's Ball, Berlin, 1928
Anna arrives in Piccadilly in. Autumn of 1928, at peak of British imperial power….
Chinoiserie vs Sinophobia!
Piccadilly, her last masterpiece of the silent era.. and Anna May Wong stars
The Chalk Circle, her first talkie in England is not a success. Her next movie Hai Tang she dies in 3 languages.”, opposite 3 male leads
Part 4: daughter of the dragon
Return to USA in October 1930….at age 25,
and the Great Depression greeted her at NYC arrival
She is star of Wallace’s On the Spot (Scarface= Tony Perelli) as the Mistress Minn Lee…. but must miss her mother’s funeral and then her first US talkie, Daughter of the dragon a Charlie Chan-Fumanchu movie (wisecracking Chinese sleuth versus evil Chinese genius)..
After Mukden incident in wartime China came Sternberg’s Shanghai Express; Dietrich and Anna May both board in Peking, the vampish, notorious ‘coaster’ and the reformed prostitute. They confront completely fake people in completely fake situations…
She doesn’t get a role in the Good Earth.
Part 5 to China 1936..via Honolulu, Yokohama arrived in Shanghai..Feb, 1936….
Like Weimar Berlin, doomed nightlife etc…
A mecca for refugees, adventurers, smugglers, entrepreneurs, missionaries, spies, and tourists…. perhaps like Bogarts Casablanca
Bernardine Fritz and he (Shanghai) International Arts Theatre…and the American University Club … and with Emily Hahn, of the New Yorker and North China Daily News, who had arrived in Shanghai via cruise ship in 1935 .. and was involved with Victor Sassoon as well as with a married Chinese poet
Shanghai Club… neither Chinese nor dogs allowed … racism, followed Anna May like a monkey on her back
Hong Kong contrasted to Shanghai..in 1936..
After visit to Nanking, Anna May Wong, who had lost her Chinese soul, was “resurrected”
But she is smitten by the quiet beauty of the imperial city, Peking and lives there for five months towards 1937.
Part 6; back in US
Racism; threats of disfigurement by not mobsters but by movies maniac…
And Eric Maschwitz is still a married man.
They visit Paris together in July 1937.
And have a wonderful Gollywoid time together until he tires of it to return to England in Spring 1938.
After war in earnest has begun Anna May offered starring role in “Daughter of Shanghai.” and she has a fluid sexuality and lesbian chic.
War leads father and siblings to flee from China to US in Nov 1938.
Three movies and no more with Paramount.
Raising funds for war in China in Australia in 1939.
US at first obvious to the war in Europe and China.
Sister Mary, a would be actress hangs herself in 1941.
War starts. 120,000 Japanese “interned.”
She makes 2 films for Producers Releasing Corporation, Bombs over Burma and Lady from Chungking.
Postwar euphoria ==> depression, and decline…..and ageism…sexism and racism…
She did a TV series The Gallery of Mme Liu-Tsing in 1941 on DuMont…. but there was no comeback…
Menopause and Alcohol and Cirrhosis
1955 : last trip abroad, to London, but runs out of funds
One last role in TV film “the Letter” set in Singapore and she is beautiful and savage
Late evangelism and tv roles 1959…
Last Movie Portrait in Black … Anna May in absentia.
Dies suddenly at age56….
Epilogue: visits to cemetery, Hollywood stars by Chinese Theatre, and Anna May Wong Quarter….
A very interesting biography of a movie star who couldn’t get the roles she deserved due to the racism that was endemic in Hollywood as far as Chinese were concerned. Her story is also the story of movies from the silent era well into current times. Quite the story as well of our country’s very ambiguous relationship with China over the past 150 years. Including the building of our railroads, the Chinese Exclusion act, “yellow face” just like “black face” actors instead of indigenous…. and our relationship with Chiang and then communist China.
Part 1 Fun in a Chinese laundry
Prr 2 Becoming Anna May
The issues of racism arise from the beginning in this biography; Ann Wong rises to be a star, despite it. Her lead role in The Toll of the Sea in 1922 as Lotus Flower parallels the Butterfly story.
Hollywood Production Code of 1922 restricted Anna May Wong’s options in film…
But she is quite successful in.The Thief of Baghdad, in NYC and in Berlin.
But she discovers there are not so many Chinese parts for her.
The Jazz singer also illustrates the American dialectic of simultaneous repulsion and desire…which are in the foundation of our art and literature.
And the film Old San Francisco is even more racist than Gone with the Wind.
Part 3: Orientally yours…
And in 1928 Anna May Wong goes to Germany, at the time less racist in its movies, than Hollywood!
Beckmann’s Eden Bar Group
Orientally yours… is how she signs off, in Weimar Germany….
lyrical description of Walter Benjamin meeting and becoming intoxicated by “May Wong,” in the very twilight of Weimar Germany.
Using a 35mm camera, Eisenstaedt captured world leaders, celebrities, artists, and everyday people and scenes with decision and tenderness. Among his most famous ...
Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong, and Leni Riefenstahl at Artist's Ball, Berlin, 1928
Anna arrives in Piccadilly in. Autumn of 1928, at peak of British imperial power….
Chinoiserie vs Sinophobia!
Piccadilly, her last masterpiece of the silent era.. and Anna May Wong stars
The Chalk Circle, her first talkie in England is not a success. Her next movie Hai Tang she dies in 3 languages.”, opposite 3 male leads
Part 4: daughter of the dragon
Return to USA in October 1930….at age 25,
and the Great Depression greeted her at NYC arrival
She is star of Wallace’s On the Spot (Scarface= Tony Perelli) as the Mistress Minn Lee…. but must miss her mother’s funeral and then her first US talkie, Daughter of the dragon a Charlie Chan-Fumanchu movie (wisecracking Chinese sleuth versus evil Chinese genius)..
After Mukden incident in wartime China came Sternberg’s Shanghai Express; Dietrich and Anna May both board in Peking, the vampish, notorious ‘coaster’ and the reformed prostitute. They confront completely fake people in completely fake situations…
She doesn’t get a role in the Good Earth.
Part 5 to China 1936..via Honolulu, Yokohama arrived in Shanghai..Feb, 1936….
Like Weimar Berlin, doomed nightlife etc…
A mecca for refugees, adventurers, smugglers, entrepreneurs, missionaries, spies, and tourists…. perhaps like Bogarts Casablanca
Bernardine Fritz and he (Shanghai) International Arts Theatre…and the American University Club … and with Emily Hahn, of the New Yorker and North China Daily News, who had arrived in Shanghai via cruise ship in 1935 .. and was involved with Victor Sassoon as well as with a married Chinese poet
Shanghai Club… neither Chinese nor dogs allowed … racism, followed Anna May like a monkey on her back
Hong Kong contrasted to Shanghai..in 1936..
After visit to Nanking, Anna May Wong, who had lost her Chinese soul, was “resurrected”
But she is smitten by the quiet beauty of the imperial city, Peking and lives there for five months towards 1937.
Part 6; back in US
Racism; threats of disfigurement by not mobsters but by movies maniac…
And Eric Maschwitz is still a married man.
They visit Paris together in July 1937.
And have a wonderful Gollywoid time together until he tires of it to return to England in Spring 1938.
After war in earnest has begun Anna May offered starring role in “Daughter of Shanghai.” and she has a fluid sexuality and lesbian chic.
War leads father and siblings to flee from China to US in Nov 1938.
Three movies and no more with Paramount.
Raising funds for war in China in Australia in 1939.
US at first obvious to the war in Europe and China.
Sister Mary, a would be actress hangs herself in 1941.
War starts. 120,000 Japanese “interned.”
She makes 2 films for Producers Releasing Corporation, Bombs over Burma and Lady from Chungking.
Postwar euphoria ==> depression, and decline…..and ageism…sexism and racism…
She did a TV series The Gallery of Mme Liu-Tsing in 1941 on DuMont…. but there was no comeback…
Menopause and Alcohol and Cirrhosis
1955 : last trip abroad, to London, but runs out of funds
One last role in TV film “the Letter” set in Singapore and she is beautiful and savage
Late evangelism and tv roles 1959…
Last Movie Portrait in Black … Anna May in absentia.
Dies suddenly at age56….
Epilogue: visits to cemetery, Hollywood stars by Chinese Theatre, and Anna May Wong Quarter….
September 23, 2023
Long before Everything Everywhere All at Once propelled leading Asian stars into the Oscar realm, movies typically featured Asian and Asian American actors in lesser, sidekick or ancillary roles. But the 2022 film sensation put Asian performers front and center, and the world outside Hollywood took notice. At the same time, Yunte Huang was busy writing the third book in his Rendezvous with America trilogy about Asian American popular figures, this one on Anna May Wong, who is considered the first Chinese American actress to appear in film. (The other two subjects were Charlie Chan, the fictional detective, and Chang and Eng Bunker, also known as the Siamese Twins.)
DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON, a retelling of Wong’s life, is deeply steeped in research. Huang sets the stage for America’s burgeoning interest in all things Asian in film history. As early as 1898, the movie Chinese Procession was created by James H. White --- one of the pioneers of early cinema --- using Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope.
Huang describes in much detail the America of the early 1900s, the era in which Wong Liu Tsong, Anna May’s birth name, was born in Los Angeles. Anti-Asian hatred was rampant, and it was not unheard of in the Chinese community for Asians to arm themselves with whistles to sound an alarm if an attack seemed imminent. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and stayed in effect until 1943, prevented the Chinese from immigrating to the United States.
Wong’s father was an established laundryman on the outskirts of LA’s Chinatown. Wong grew up in the laundromat, delivering cleaned clothes to those who could afford the service. She liked the picture shows and saw herself up on the screen long before it happened. In fact, what she saw most frequently were white actors in “yellow face,” in a Hollywood caught up with the exotic “Orientals.” Her neighborhood was often used as a substitute for China, and she spent hours hanging around sets and watching movies being made.
A somewhat controversial figure, Wong played into the stereotypical roles that Hollywood offered her at first, precisely because that’s what was available. Many faulted her for embodying the characters that limited the roles offered to other Asians, but at the same time she is seen as breaking down walls that could have kept them from working at all. Few true roles for Asian actors existed, yet Wong’s career spanned silent films to early television and earned parts opposite Marlene Dietrich and Lawrence Olivier. In one of the biggest productions of a Chinese story, The Good Earth, Wong --- at this time a well-known and respected actor in film circles --- refused to take a smaller role and stand beside white actors embodying Chinese characters.
Huang delves a bit into Wong’s life off the screen, including romances with some of Hollywood’s elite, and nods at the possibility that she was open to relationships with both genders. But he doesn’t trivialize her place in cinematic history with gossip and innuendo. He does portray a human being who fought for work and eventually felt that she earned the right not to settle for less. The book’s title is no accident or coincidence; it comes from one of Wong’s most exaggerated roles, playing the over-the-top daughter of Dr. Fu Manchu in the 1931 movie Daughter of the Dragon. She took the part because she felt that an Asian should play an Asian character.
One can’t help but wonder what Wong would have thought of the 2022 Oscars and how far we have come --- or haven’t come --- in cinema.
Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON, a retelling of Wong’s life, is deeply steeped in research. Huang sets the stage for America’s burgeoning interest in all things Asian in film history. As early as 1898, the movie Chinese Procession was created by James H. White --- one of the pioneers of early cinema --- using Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope.
Huang describes in much detail the America of the early 1900s, the era in which Wong Liu Tsong, Anna May’s birth name, was born in Los Angeles. Anti-Asian hatred was rampant, and it was not unheard of in the Chinese community for Asians to arm themselves with whistles to sound an alarm if an attack seemed imminent. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and stayed in effect until 1943, prevented the Chinese from immigrating to the United States.
Wong’s father was an established laundryman on the outskirts of LA’s Chinatown. Wong grew up in the laundromat, delivering cleaned clothes to those who could afford the service. She liked the picture shows and saw herself up on the screen long before it happened. In fact, what she saw most frequently were white actors in “yellow face,” in a Hollywood caught up with the exotic “Orientals.” Her neighborhood was often used as a substitute for China, and she spent hours hanging around sets and watching movies being made.
A somewhat controversial figure, Wong played into the stereotypical roles that Hollywood offered her at first, precisely because that’s what was available. Many faulted her for embodying the characters that limited the roles offered to other Asians, but at the same time she is seen as breaking down walls that could have kept them from working at all. Few true roles for Asian actors existed, yet Wong’s career spanned silent films to early television and earned parts opposite Marlene Dietrich and Lawrence Olivier. In one of the biggest productions of a Chinese story, The Good Earth, Wong --- at this time a well-known and respected actor in film circles --- refused to take a smaller role and stand beside white actors embodying Chinese characters.
Huang delves a bit into Wong’s life off the screen, including romances with some of Hollywood’s elite, and nods at the possibility that she was open to relationships with both genders. But he doesn’t trivialize her place in cinematic history with gossip and innuendo. He does portray a human being who fought for work and eventually felt that she earned the right not to settle for less. The book’s title is no accident or coincidence; it comes from one of Wong’s most exaggerated roles, playing the over-the-top daughter of Dr. Fu Manchu in the 1931 movie Daughter of the Dragon. She took the part because she felt that an Asian should play an Asian character.
One can’t help but wonder what Wong would have thought of the 2022 Oscars and how far we have come --- or haven’t come --- in cinema.
Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
August 10, 2024
Complaints out of the way first: there's at times a degree of padding at the paragraph level, in that we work through scene-setting bits imported from pop history (in one, he explains that the A's lost the 1931 World Series, which has no relevance whatsoever to anything else here); the analysis appears only sporadically, rather than at once; I was hoping this might be something I could assign for my history-through film class, but there's too much in it for that.
That said, what a life, and what an imaginative way to tell it. Anna May Wong never really got a Hollywood role worthy of her talents (list of character names from early films from IMDB: Chinese Girl; Lotus Blossom; Lotus Flower; Rose Li; the Mongol Slave; Tiger Lily; Loo Song; from the 50s alone: Ah Sing; China Mary; Lu Yang; Madame Chu; Chinese Woman--there's a poem in there), and her film career was pretty much over by when she turned 34, aside from a few WWII propaganda movies. She'd been mostly forgotten by the late 50s, until a bunch of small TV roles, must but not all of them the stereotypes she'd been relegated to (we badly need a chart here listing how many times in how many movies her character tragically dies so that a white couple can unite or reunite), and then she died, of alcoholism compounded by despair, right when a plum role in Flower Drum Song offered her a route back in, which surely would have resulted in a career revival and, eventually, cameos on, like, Hawaii Five-O. Even in 1961 (especially in 1961?) the obits said she'd played villains (she played Fu Manchu's daughter in the film that gives the book its title), was exotic, etc. She'd been born in LA and disappointed Europeans with her very American accent.
But at her height, she crops up in one fascinating world after another--early-20s Hollywood, where she was never a star on the level of Sessue Hayakawa, who'd left in frustration, but a well-known figure who hobnobbed with the greats; Weimar Berlin, where she appears in a photo with Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl and gets interviewed by Walter Benjamin; Shanghai a year before the Japanese invasion, where she's a fashion icon constantly forced to apologize for the roles white studio heads have forced her to play; wartime LA, where she does her part, on film and as an air-raid warden. Huang makes his points more by accumulation than directly, and so the story adds up to a series of frustrations (she was never allowed to actually kiss her co-leads due to anti-miscegenation laws), details, and the occasional argument about her racial (did she at times exaggerate and burlesque stereotypes? or was she just stuck in bad roles?) and gender play (she hung in well-known lesbian circles with Alla Nazimova and, later, Dietrich, and may have mutually bearded with Philip Ahn, one of the only other Asian-American actors at the time allowed to play prominent parts). The most famous anecdote, of course, is how she did not get the part of O-lan in The Good Earth, leading Luise Rainer to win another Oscar for her yellowface performance.
So, a case study in the power of racism and sexism and lasting stereotype (Lucy Liu, awarded a star nearby on the Walk of Fame, pointedly compared their experiences to highlight how little had changed), and a tantalizing sense of all the possibilities that could have been. Going to watch Piccadilly, a 1929 British film considered to be her best showcase, and, well, less objectionably limiting than many of her other characters, and see how it goes.
That said, what a life, and what an imaginative way to tell it. Anna May Wong never really got a Hollywood role worthy of her talents (list of character names from early films from IMDB: Chinese Girl; Lotus Blossom; Lotus Flower; Rose Li; the Mongol Slave; Tiger Lily; Loo Song; from the 50s alone: Ah Sing; China Mary; Lu Yang; Madame Chu; Chinese Woman--there's a poem in there), and her film career was pretty much over by when she turned 34, aside from a few WWII propaganda movies. She'd been mostly forgotten by the late 50s, until a bunch of small TV roles, must but not all of them the stereotypes she'd been relegated to (we badly need a chart here listing how many times in how many movies her character tragically dies so that a white couple can unite or reunite), and then she died, of alcoholism compounded by despair, right when a plum role in Flower Drum Song offered her a route back in, which surely would have resulted in a career revival and, eventually, cameos on, like, Hawaii Five-O. Even in 1961 (especially in 1961?) the obits said she'd played villains (she played Fu Manchu's daughter in the film that gives the book its title), was exotic, etc. She'd been born in LA and disappointed Europeans with her very American accent.
But at her height, she crops up in one fascinating world after another--early-20s Hollywood, where she was never a star on the level of Sessue Hayakawa, who'd left in frustration, but a well-known figure who hobnobbed with the greats; Weimar Berlin, where she appears in a photo with Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl and gets interviewed by Walter Benjamin; Shanghai a year before the Japanese invasion, where she's a fashion icon constantly forced to apologize for the roles white studio heads have forced her to play; wartime LA, where she does her part, on film and as an air-raid warden. Huang makes his points more by accumulation than directly, and so the story adds up to a series of frustrations (she was never allowed to actually kiss her co-leads due to anti-miscegenation laws), details, and the occasional argument about her racial (did she at times exaggerate and burlesque stereotypes? or was she just stuck in bad roles?) and gender play (she hung in well-known lesbian circles with Alla Nazimova and, later, Dietrich, and may have mutually bearded with Philip Ahn, one of the only other Asian-American actors at the time allowed to play prominent parts). The most famous anecdote, of course, is how she did not get the part of O-lan in The Good Earth, leading Luise Rainer to win another Oscar for her yellowface performance.
So, a case study in the power of racism and sexism and lasting stereotype (Lucy Liu, awarded a star nearby on the Walk of Fame, pointedly compared their experiences to highlight how little had changed), and a tantalizing sense of all the possibilities that could have been. Going to watch Piccadilly, a 1929 British film considered to be her best showcase, and, well, less objectionably limiting than many of her other characters, and see how it goes.
Read
January 9, 2024Anna May Wong’s stardom has surged in the 20 years since her ‘rediscovery’. Arguably the first Chinese-American film star, following her death in 1961 her place in Hollywood history was overlooked until 2004, with the release of Graham Russell Gao Hodges’ biography Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend and the simultaneous reissue of Wong’s best known film, Piccadilly (1929). These events set in motion a Wong renaissance that continues apace today. In 2022, the US Mint issued a quarter bearing Wong’s likeness. She has appeared as a character in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2022) and the miniseries Hollywood (2020). The latter features a counterfactual twist with Wong receiving an Oscar, something she was denied in her lifetime. The English actress Gemma Chan has announced a film based on Hodges’ biography. Hollywood, it seems, has fallen in love with Anna May Wong.
Yunte Huang is the latest writer to attempt a telling of Wong’s life. His book completes a trilogy on early Chinese-American popular culture, each of which bears the same subtitle, ‘Rendezvous with American History’. The first book, in 2011, examined the fictional Chinese ‘honorable detective’ Charlie Chan; the second in 2015 told the story of the ‘original’ Siamese twins, Chang and Eng. Both books were revelatory and succeeded in humanising figures often portrayed in (racist) stereotypes.
Anna May Wong presents her most recent biographer with different challenges. Hodges offered a complete narrative of Wong’s life in his 2004 book. Huang seeks to distinguish his biography with historical context. He covers Wong’s early life as a laundryman’s daughter with evocative descriptions of Los Angeles’ Chinese laundries and their ubiquity in silent-era films as a representation of ‘noisy operations and repetitious actions’. Wong endured troubled teenage years but made her film debut as an energetic extra in The Red Lantern (1919). From there, she made a rapid ascent to stardom in the early 1920s with roles in Toll of the Sea (a 1922 reworking of Madame Butterfly), The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and the first cinema adaptation of Peter Pan (1924) as Tiger Lily.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Gao Yunxiang is Professor of History at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is currently finishing a biography of Soo Yong.
Yunte Huang is the latest writer to attempt a telling of Wong’s life. His book completes a trilogy on early Chinese-American popular culture, each of which bears the same subtitle, ‘Rendezvous with American History’. The first book, in 2011, examined the fictional Chinese ‘honorable detective’ Charlie Chan; the second in 2015 told the story of the ‘original’ Siamese twins, Chang and Eng. Both books were revelatory and succeeded in humanising figures often portrayed in (racist) stereotypes.
Anna May Wong presents her most recent biographer with different challenges. Hodges offered a complete narrative of Wong’s life in his 2004 book. Huang seeks to distinguish his biography with historical context. He covers Wong’s early life as a laundryman’s daughter with evocative descriptions of Los Angeles’ Chinese laundries and their ubiquity in silent-era films as a representation of ‘noisy operations and repetitious actions’. Wong endured troubled teenage years but made her film debut as an energetic extra in The Red Lantern (1919). From there, she made a rapid ascent to stardom in the early 1920s with roles in Toll of the Sea (a 1922 reworking of Madame Butterfly), The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and the first cinema adaptation of Peter Pan (1924) as Tiger Lily.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Gao Yunxiang is Professor of History at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is currently finishing a biography of Soo Yong.
August 10, 2023
It’s only August, but I know Daughter of the Dragon is one of the best histories I have read this year. It ranks pretty near Number 1 right now. Huang delivers more than a life in this biography; Daughter of the Dragon is a portrait of Asian American history in all its glory and ugliness, it is a history of a community, an ethnic group, a skin color as it played out and was embodied by Anna May Wong.
Anna May Wong’s life is a microcosm of Asian American history, of American history.
Huang’s research is impeccable; each chapter is fully fleshed out with evidence from previous scholarship and archival sources. Letters to and from friends and family, press interviews, and a myriad of other Hollywood ephemera serve as Huang’s fodder. But Anna May’s own voice is rarely invoked; it would appear that few records in her own words exist, though Huang uses what artifacts she did leave behind. Putting the patchwork together as any good historian does, Huang captures and interprets her voice for us in his own; Anna May comes through the pages as if she were seated on the edge of desk, cigarette in hand.
The book follows a typical biographical chronology, from birth to death and everything in-between; however, Huang leans heavily toward Wong’s filmography as the measurement of her state of mind as well as a platform for a deeper discussion of legislation against Asian American citizenship and social standing in the American popular imagination. This is more than a biography, and while Daughter of the Dragon reads like a filmography: it is a vivid cultural history of Asian American film and representation in Hollywood. Indeed, Anna May Wong was a by-word for Asian American film for much of the twentieth century and her career. There can be no discussion of Asian representation in the media without her.
The result is a very satisfying history.
Anna May Wong’s life is a microcosm of Asian American history, of American history.
Huang’s research is impeccable; each chapter is fully fleshed out with evidence from previous scholarship and archival sources. Letters to and from friends and family, press interviews, and a myriad of other Hollywood ephemera serve as Huang’s fodder. But Anna May’s own voice is rarely invoked; it would appear that few records in her own words exist, though Huang uses what artifacts she did leave behind. Putting the patchwork together as any good historian does, Huang captures and interprets her voice for us in his own; Anna May comes through the pages as if she were seated on the edge of desk, cigarette in hand.
The book follows a typical biographical chronology, from birth to death and everything in-between; however, Huang leans heavily toward Wong’s filmography as the measurement of her state of mind as well as a platform for a deeper discussion of legislation against Asian American citizenship and social standing in the American popular imagination. This is more than a biography, and while Daughter of the Dragon reads like a filmography: it is a vivid cultural history of Asian American film and representation in Hollywood. Indeed, Anna May Wong was a by-word for Asian American film for much of the twentieth century and her career. There can be no discussion of Asian representation in the media without her.
The result is a very satisfying history.
March 10, 2024
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. In my opinion, Yunte Huang has written a biography of Anna May Wong embedded in cultural criticism. Wong (1905-1961) is described as an underrated Hollywood icon and the author capably tracks Wong’s life and career, creating a tender, fair portrait of an important performer. Huang elegantly depicts the Wong family and their laundry business, diving into the historical significance of Chinese laundries, and he presents a concise yet rich history of Asian American culture and politics at the turn of the century—specifically, how Asian Americans were treated in America and how it affected the community and Wong’s career. Huang details how racism shaped Wong’s career, noting that she was often “considered too Chinese to play a Chinese” and lost roles to white actors in yellowface who conformed to Asian stereotypes. Huang’s sympathetic treatment brings out the nuances of Wong’s story, highlighting how she by turns acceded to and bristled against the stereotypes Hollywood asked her to play, a dynamic captured in Wong’s sardonic practice of signing publicity photos “Orientally yours.” It’s a fascinating—and long overdue—close-up of a Hollywood trailblazer that also offers an intimate Hollywood profile perfect for students of film and pop culture.
August 6, 2023
I was so thrilled to discover a biography of Anna May Wong. Yunte Huang gives Wong the respect and acclaim she deserves. He places her life and career in terms of the racism the Chinese experienced (the book starts with mention of the Chinese exclusion act in 1882) during her lifetime. I found this incredibly helpful because it shows what kind of world Wong lived in and had to battle just to be seen and heard in the entertainment industry.
When Yunte talks about her career, he makes sure to also highlight the limited opportunities an Asian actress at the time (sadly, a lot of this exists today). He mentions that once Paul Muni was cast in The Good Earth, Wong would not have been considered because an Asian actress would not have been cast opposite a white man playing Asian (the practice of "yellowface"). She was also rejected for the role because China had not been fond of her Hollywood roles. As China was a major player in the film world, Wong would not have been cast so Luise Rainer was cast and won her second Oscar.
Rainer's life is a tragic one (alcoholism, lost opportunities, oppressive "ethnic tropes," etc.) but this book deserves a read for the information it provides about Wong and the world she lived in.
When Yunte talks about her career, he makes sure to also highlight the limited opportunities an Asian actress at the time (sadly, a lot of this exists today). He mentions that once Paul Muni was cast in The Good Earth, Wong would not have been considered because an Asian actress would not have been cast opposite a white man playing Asian (the practice of "yellowface"). She was also rejected for the role because China had not been fond of her Hollywood roles. As China was a major player in the film world, Wong would not have been cast so Luise Rainer was cast and won her second Oscar.
Rainer's life is a tragic one (alcoholism, lost opportunities, oppressive "ethnic tropes," etc.) but this book deserves a read for the information it provides about Wong and the world she lived in.
August 18, 2023
Finally a book that gives Anna May Wong her due! There have been recent fictionalized accounts of her life that I have read because of my interest in her so I am so thrilled I can finally read a wonderful biography of her life. Anna May Wong grew up in Los Angeles Chinatown and used to visit film sets as an extra. Eventually she does get cast in silent films but loses out on roles that went to white actors (due to miscegenation). She ends up traveling to Germany and the UK and makes many notable films. She also goes back to China to visit family and gets a mixed reception. I really felt like I got a sense of her, her career and her life. The author of this book has written books on Charlie Chan and the Siamese Twins who were used in "freak shows.' I also recommend both of these books too. What I also loved about this book is the detailed historical context as well as references to philosophers (such as Walter Benjamin) and film theorists (such as Rudolf Arnheim) I like it when books pique my curiosity to read other things and this book provides a lot of great references. I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company, for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.
Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company, for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.
September 10, 2023
I was disappointed in this author's book on Charlie Chan several years back and I am just as disappointed in this. In both cases, the main problem is that the author seems to feel compelled to include every bit of research he did, no matter how mundane or beside the point that information is. This is a 300 page book about Anna May Wong, and she never comes alive. Huang is fairly good on covering her movie activity, but I finished the book feeling like I know very little about her as a person. The long section on her visit to China is crammed with detail, most of it taken from newspaper articles she wrote, but it feels like rote repetition of research.
The sheer amount of cultural and historical context here is suffocating. Some context is, of course, necessary and often enlightening, but I don't exaggerate much when I say that almost half of the text is not about Wong but about background that usually winds up feeling insubstantial. In an otherwise fairly interesting short chapter on The Thief of Bagdad, Huang somehow winds up quoting the last lines of The Great Gatsby, just because he could, I guess. The book isn't rigorous enough to really be academic and not chatty enough to be 'popular.' Having been stung twice, I'm not likely to read anything else by this author.
The sheer amount of cultural and historical context here is suffocating. Some context is, of course, necessary and often enlightening, but I don't exaggerate much when I say that almost half of the text is not about Wong but about background that usually winds up feeling insubstantial. In an otherwise fairly interesting short chapter on The Thief of Bagdad, Huang somehow winds up quoting the last lines of The Great Gatsby, just because he could, I guess. The book isn't rigorous enough to really be academic and not chatty enough to be 'popular.' Having been stung twice, I'm not likely to read anything else by this author.
October 15, 2023
I’ve always been a huge fan of Anna May Wong, and I’ve been waiting for a long time for someone to do an in-depth biography of her life. While I give this book 4 stars, it’s more towards a 3.5 because I’m not a huge fan of how it was written.
I agree with the criticisms that there isn’t enough about Anna herself, and that there’s too much extra background history that it feels like it took up more of the book. Now, I love background history, the more detailed and contextual a biography gets the better it is IMO, but I didn’t feel like there was enough Anna-specific information to truly balance it out. The transitions between background information to Anna May Wong was often awkward, and at points I felt like the relevance was not strong enough to be worth including in her biography.
Perhaps there just isn’t enough information available to do a really fleshed out biography such as Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild by David Stenn, a book that I end up comparing most old Hollywood biographies to because of its sheer amount of information and research.
While I did enjoy this book overall, and it’s probably going to be the best Anna May Wong biography we have for a while, it wasn’t all that I hoped it would be.
I agree with the criticisms that there isn’t enough about Anna herself, and that there’s too much extra background history that it feels like it took up more of the book. Now, I love background history, the more detailed and contextual a biography gets the better it is IMO, but I didn’t feel like there was enough Anna-specific information to truly balance it out. The transitions between background information to Anna May Wong was often awkward, and at points I felt like the relevance was not strong enough to be worth including in her biography.
Perhaps there just isn’t enough information available to do a really fleshed out biography such as Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild by David Stenn, a book that I end up comparing most old Hollywood biographies to because of its sheer amount of information and research.
While I did enjoy this book overall, and it’s probably going to be the best Anna May Wong biography we have for a while, it wasn’t all that I hoped it would be.
September 10, 2023
An inspiring though unfortunate tale of a ground breaking star from Hollywood’s golden age…and the world she shined in…
Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang is part biography and part historical text…
While the majority of the material is dedicated to Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong, a large portion of the beginning and much of the later story is interspersed with historical and cultural context for the world at the time both leading into the 20th century, the start of Hollywood, and parallels with Wong’s career as they pursued other opportunities when the US Film industry did not offer her a chance.
I confess I only know about Anna May Wong from a fictionalized portrayal of her in a netflix miniseries a few years ago, but I wasn’t going to turn down a chance to dive into early 20th century film history.
Like many stars of the silver screen, Wong had an interesting life before during and after her heyday…but she never stopped trying new things…
The research into this book is significant and includes MANY photos of Wong, her roles, and historically significant elements relevant to the over all arc.
Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang is part biography and part historical text…
While the majority of the material is dedicated to Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong, a large portion of the beginning and much of the later story is interspersed with historical and cultural context for the world at the time both leading into the 20th century, the start of Hollywood, and parallels with Wong’s career as they pursued other opportunities when the US Film industry did not offer her a chance.
I confess I only know about Anna May Wong from a fictionalized portrayal of her in a netflix miniseries a few years ago, but I wasn’t going to turn down a chance to dive into early 20th century film history.
Like many stars of the silver screen, Wong had an interesting life before during and after her heyday…but she never stopped trying new things…
The research into this book is significant and includes MANY photos of Wong, her roles, and historically significant elements relevant to the over all arc.
January 17, 2025
If you are looking for a straightforward biography, this is not it. Daughter of the Dragon is an impeccably researched achedemic examination of Chinese American culture and geopolitics from the silent era until the early 60s, with Anna May Wong at the centre. The end result is a fascinating web that paints a picture of the lives of Chinese American's through the first half of the 20th century and their cultural influence and representation.
Even with Wong as the centre of the web Huang is weaving, Daughter of the Dragon can feel too big at points as he tried to make every possible connection from where he started. As a result, Wong is often largely absent from entire chapters. Major, emotional events of her life, such as the death of her mother and sister's suicide, feel almost arbitrary and carry no emotional weight. There is a feeling of list checking as opposed to trying to understand or connect with Wong and her career.
All that said, there is a truly impressive amount of research and ground covered. While it can feel like Huang strays too far away from his central subject at time, it is always interesting.
Even with Wong as the centre of the web Huang is weaving, Daughter of the Dragon can feel too big at points as he tried to make every possible connection from where he started. As a result, Wong is often largely absent from entire chapters. Major, emotional events of her life, such as the death of her mother and sister's suicide, feel almost arbitrary and carry no emotional weight. There is a feeling of list checking as opposed to trying to understand or connect with Wong and her career.
All that said, there is a truly impressive amount of research and ground covered. While it can feel like Huang strays too far away from his central subject at time, it is always interesting.
October 7, 2023
Anna May Wong (1905–1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood’s most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—“Orientally yours.” Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong’s tragic life story, retracing her journey from Chinatown to silent-era Hollywood, and from Weimar Berlin to decadent, prewar Shanghai, and capturing American television in its infancy. As Huang shows, Wong’s rendezvous with history features a remarkable parade of characters, including a smitten Walter Benjamin and (an equally smitten) Marlene Dietrich. Challenging the parodically racist perceptions of Wong as a “Dragon Lady,” “Madame Butterfly,” or “China Doll,” Huang’s biography becomes a truly resonant work of history that reflects the raging anti-Chinese xenophobia, unabashed sexism, and ageism toward women that defined both Hollywood and America in Wong’s all-too-brief fifty-six years on earth.
January 4, 2024
One resolution for 2024 is to record and review the books I read, so here we go. Daughter of the Dragon is a thorough and well-researched biography of Anna May Wong, the first Asian actress to make it big in American cinema. She was fantastically beautiful and talented but was blocked from major roles because of the racism that insisted that Asian people be played by white people in yellow face. She went on to act in Germany and England, and brought Chinese culture to her personal theatrical ventures. Her acting career is fascinating, but she also did burlesque and live theatre, created a travelogue, and worked tirelessly for Chinese relief after the Japanese invasion. Her social activism took us as much of her time as acting. The writing is sometimes dense when dealing with Wong’s intricate social life, but it’s a quick, absorbing read overall. I highly recommend this and only wish there were more pictures.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2024
Like most things in life, it’s about expectations. I learned of Anna May Wong in college, when we watched The Thief from Baghdad in a class. She was captivating, and I learned of the horrible racism she experienced and miscegenation laws that prevented her from having a leading role in the US. So I was excited to see a biography of her voted as one of the NYT’s notable books of 2023. I appreciated the author’s providing history and context for anti-Asian racism in the US, and in that way made it about so much more than Wong. But the pacing of this book was so slow, and the writing often so dry. It didn’t attempt to draw the reader in, and it felt like a surface level read of a lively and fascinating woman. So many times I wanted the author to explore a facet of her life more deeply. It opens saying this isn’t your typical cradle to grave biography, but aside from providing broader historical context about Asian-American hate, it was.
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