Preview
  • Daughter of the Dragon

  • Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History
  • By: Yunte Huang
  • Narrated by: Rebecca Lam
  • Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (6 ratings)

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Daughter of the Dragon

By: Yunte Huang
Narrated by: Rebecca Lam
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Publisher's summary

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.

©2023 Yunte Huang (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

What listeners say about Daughter of the Dragon

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Interesting listen!

Anna May Wong had a fascinating life and career. This book details that life with a lot of care and detail. Super interesting.

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Sympathetic portrayal of a screen icon and activist.

I like the narration Author puts Anna May Wong in context of Hollywood, Asian-American history, growth of Los Angeles. Sometimes, author pads the narrative with stories of other actors and movies which almost loses the focus on Wong.

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