Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History

Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History
Author: Yunte Huang
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2023-08-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 163149581X

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One of the Atlantic's "Books to Get Lost in This Summer" Best Books of August 2023: New York Times Book Review, Christian Science Monitor, InsideHook, BookRiot, WNET AllArts, Arlington Magazine 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.


Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History
Language: en
Pages: 371
Authors: Yunte Huang
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-08-22 - Publisher: Liveright Publishing

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One of the Atlantic's "Books to Get Lost in This Summer" Best Books of August 2023: New York Times Book Review, Christian Science Monitor, InsideHook, BookRiot,
Anna May Wong
Language: en
Pages: 191
Authors: Philip Leibfried
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-05-20 - Publisher: McFarland

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Anna May Wong, born in Los Angeles in 1905 to a Chinese family that did not support her ambition, is the only Asian-American actress to have achieved stardom du
Anna May Wong
Language: en
Pages: 271
Authors:
Categories: Motion picture actors and actresses
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012 - Publisher:

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This title provides a biography of Anna May Wong who is undoubtedly, one of the best known and most popular Chinese-American actresses ever to have graced the s
Perpetually Cool
Language: en
Pages: 348
Authors: Anthony B. Chan
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-02-08 - Publisher: Scarecrow Press

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Anna May Wong was an extraordinary Asian American woman who became the country's most famous film actress of Chinese descent. From small parts in silent films t
Anna May Wong
Language: en
Pages: 262
Authors: Shirley Jennifer Lim
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-04-09 - Publisher: Temple University Press

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Pioneering Chinese American actress Anna May Wong made more than sixty films, headlined theater and vaudeville productions, and even starred in her own televisi