Review of Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang

*Daughter of the Dragon* by Yunte Huang (2023). Published by Liveright.

For those of you who don’t know me in real life, you’re not going to know this fun fact about me: for many years, I have been obsessed with Anna May Wong. I wrote about her in my History of Hollywood course all the way back in undergrad, but it really began when I was graduating from high school.

I had watched one of her silent movies and simply fell in love because of the fact she was an Asian American woman who’d made it in Hollywood at the time. Then I learned the truth of what was really going on, and viewed her situation in a new light.

I really began to fall in love with the mythology and history surrounding her when I read Sally Wen Mao’s poems about her. Mao does such a beautiful job conveying the complicated nature of Wong’s history, and her piece on imagining if Wong were in a Wong Kar-Wai movie is so striking to me.

So when I first heard this biography was coming out, I submitted an order to my local library branch immediately. I wanted to get my hands on this book when it came out, and I ended up becoming the first person on the waitlist. And man, I really devoured this book.

I even want a personal copy for my home library! Let’s get into the review before I start rambling a little too much.

A recollection of Anna May Wong’s life, career, and broader AAPI history.

Now, there’s a lot I can say about this book. It’s certainly a biography, and when I do these kinds of book reviews, I try not to do a complete summary because Wikipedia exists. But here’s a brief overview!

In terms of Anna May Wong’s story, we learn a little bit about her family and their situation. Raised in the Chinatowns in Los Angeles, Anna May Wong grew up in a family that owned a laundromat, and had seven other siblings. One of the cuter anecdotes at the beginning of the book is about her family coming to take a picture, and her father’s demeanor during it.

Despite her parents telling her to do well in school, Anna May would sneak off to the movie theaters, as she was obsessed with the moving pictures. She eventually would show up to all of the sets, would become an extra, and rose to fame throughout the years as an actress. Her parents did not approve of this, and her father considered her an embrassment to Chinese culture at times.

Anna May Wong has such a complicated history, and you’ll see that in the book. She fled to Paris in search of a more equitable spot, might’ve had a relationship with Josephine Baker, and then continued her career in Hollywood. She had opportunities that were decent Pre-Code, but with the implementation of the Hays Code, she could never be a leading lady due to the racist attitudes at the time.

She was considered too Asian in America, but the Chinese also rejected her for being too American. One tour of China did not end well, as her father’s attitudes were more reflected in the general Chinese populace’s beliefs as well.

But what Huang does, which I find especially interesting in this kind of work, is contextualizes her life in the broader experience of Asian Americans. Wong was born in an integrated neighborhood, in a period where Asians, especially Chinese, were not allowed to immigrate.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was still running strong during this period, and Huang does an excellent job of profiling the general lives and experiences of Asian Americans in the era. Wong’s family came decades prior, making her very much an American citizen, but it was still tough. Huang also goes into detail about China and living there, which adds another layer of complexity.

I could, however, see how this deters a more average reader. People want to focus on Wong, not the details and history that would complicate her life. I think it’s a bit shallow sometimes to not want context like this, as it’s really important to understand the dominating beliefs of the period and its history, but sometimes it’s really hard to consume content like this. I get it.

Overall Thoughts

As someone who knew the broader historical details of her life, I greatly appreciated a book like this. Like I said, I want to buy a personal copy for my library now! I loved it a lot.

That said, I love history books, and am a graduate student in this general area, so I appreciated Huang’s focus on contextualizing Wong in a broader history. And, like I said before, I can easily see how someone else might not appreciate this because it’s a lot to swallow at once.

Take your time and be open minded for these kinds of books. I certainly took breaks when reading this book, that’s for sure. It’s not a novel you can read straight through.

But pick it up if you haven’t already!

Follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more.