★ 06/19/2023
Huang (Inseparable ), an English professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, concludes his Rendezvous with America trilogy with a vital account of the life of Anna May (née Liu Tsong) Wong (1905–1961), the first Chinese American movie star, that masterfully chronicles her “spectacular rise from laundryman’s daughter to global celebrity against the backdrop of a world riven by racism, bigotry, and injustice.” Wong made her first onscreen appearance as an extra in The Red Lantern (1919) and three years later landed a breakthrough role as the Madame Butterfly–esque lead in The Toll of the Sea . 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, most notably getting passed over for the lead role in The Good Earth (1937) in favor of white actor Luise Rainer. Additionally, anti-miscegenation prohibitions kept Wong from starring roles in romances because she wasn’t allowed to kiss a white man onscreen. 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. Photos. (Aug.)
"With Daughter of the Dragon , Huang is offering something different . . . a form of reclamation and subversion. Huang is a wry and generous storyteller; the Anna May he evokes stepped out from the limited roles she was relegated to and turned to writing as a way of showcasing her curiosity and wit."
New York Times - Jennifer Szalai
"Yunte Huang's superb biography of Hollywood's first Chinese American movie star . . . doubles as a reckoning with the country's attitudes about Asian people in Wong's day . . . tremendously elucidating and moving."
"In a deeply researched and far-reaching biography, professor and award-winning biographer Huang positions Wong’s career achievements in America and abroad against the geopolitical challenges of the 1930s . . . The result is a thorough, multilayered history of the too brief yet impactful life of a pioneering Chinese American woman artist facing racism and sexism in tumultuous times.”"
★ 07/01/2023
Situating a huge star within the even larger histories of Hollywood, the United States, and the world, Huang (Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History ) tells the full story of Anna May Wong (1905–1961), considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood. Her career began in silent films; later, in the 1930s, despite rampant Hollywood racism, she starred in a number of films including 1937's Daughter of Shanghai . In 1951, she starred in the detective TV series The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong. Her legacy and life outside of her films are as fascinating as the made-up stories from movie magazines printed during her career. While Wong's life has recently been explored in historical fiction (including Gail Tsukiyama's The Brightest Star and Amanda Lee Koe's Delayed Rays of a Star ), most readers will find her real story even more engaging. Huang has created a page-turner nonfiction book with this biography by fleshing out the world in which Wong lived. VERDICT Huang's lively, surprising, and all-encompassing biography of Anna May Wong should be on everyone's summer reading list. A must for libraries with strong film and pop culture collections.—Emily Kubincanek
2023-05-02
Following his first two books on significant Chinese American figures, Charlie Chan and Inseparable , Huang turns his attention to Anna May Wong (1905-1961). 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. At the time, the “exoticism” of China and the East had White Hollywood enraptured, and many producers and directors used Chinatown in Los Angeles as a primary set to shoot films. Wong used this to her advantage, sneaking on to sets and watching film crews as a young girl. Huang illustrates details about Wong with passion and fervor, clearly delineating her struggles and achievements. When Wong succeeds, readers will rejoice, and when her circumstances limit her, readers will feel her sorrow. Though Wong was a controversial figure for her contribution to the negative “Dragon Lady” stereotype for Asian women via her titular role in Daughter of the Dragon , Huang paints his subject in a compassionate light. During this time period, Hollywood was rife with anti-Asian racism, which had a profound effect on the young actor trying to fulfill her dreams. Huang neither forgives nor condemns her actions. Rather, he offers an in-depth exploration of her character, bringing forth her inner thoughts and feelings, many of which were expressed in her diaries and interviews. Wong had an incredible yet short life, and the author documents it in an evenhanded, bittersweet manner.
An intimate Hollywood profile perfect for students of film and pop culture.
"Exhaustive . . . Huang uses popular, easily accessible prose, mixed with a professor's use of lengthy quotes from revealing sources and digressions into the influences of the day, to illuminate the main facts of the cinema idol's real-life exploits."
Nikkei Asia Review - John Krich
"Daughter of The Dragon soars when Huang resists treating Wong as a hapless victim of American history and digs deeper to reveal the shrewd, resilient soul beneath. During her lifetime, Wong’s stardom was, for reasons beyond her control, eclipsed by that of her white peers. Thanks in part to scholars like Huang, her legacy won’t suffer the same fate."
The New Yorker - Mayukh Sen
"Deeply researched.... [Huang] presents a fulsome panorama of creative Berlin... [and his] treatment of 1920s London, Wong’s next stop, is equally detailed... Daughter of the Dragon ... [has] come along to give Wong her due."
"[A]n incisive guide to the tangle of race, politics, and business that Anna May Wong encountered during her rise to fame . . . Daughter of the Dragon offers a lively tour through Wong’s world and filmography, and the film stills and portraits included throughout are a particular pleasure. Mr. Huang turns the spotlight back onto an important but largely forgotten film icon—one who shone brightly despite the bitter racial bias she faced throughout her long career."
Wall Street Journal - Julia Flynn Siler
"Daughter of the Dragon gives us a sense of how difficult it was for Wong to operate amid the legal, cultural, political and social constraints that restricted the roles she could play in the movies and the choices she could make in her life. Yet Huang also lets us watch Anna May transcend those limits, sending witty letters to friends, welcoming reporters, posing for photographers and campaigning for war relief in China, all the while creating the character that still demands our attention."
National Book Review - Ann Fabian
