Upcoming Events
Not Your China Doll: Art Inspired by Anna May Wong
In Chelsea Market for the month of May is this exhibition with the artwork of six AAPI and POC women artists working across various mediums, including oil paints, charcoal and ink, illustration, digital art, and collage. (Pieces will be available for purchase. More details to come.)
Young Hollywood Was Asian: The Pioneers Who Made Motion Pictures
Presented in partnership with the Meatpacking Business Improvement District, archival photographs of pioneering yet lesser known AAPI figures in Hollywood appear on outdoor tables for the month of May. Included are Oscar-winning cinematographer James Wong Howe, Hollywood’s first AAPI heartthrob Sessue Hayakawa, Filipina movie star Elena Jurado, and more.
On view May 1 to 31 • Outdoor dining area in the Meatpacking district
Not Your China Doll: A Retrospective of Anna May Wong's Trailblazing Career
Pearl River Mart is proud to present a three-part installation inspired by Hollywood’s first AAPI movie star and curated by Katie Gee Salisbury, author of the fascinating biography, Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong.
In our Soho gallery is this historical retrospective featuring archival photographs, ephemera, classic film clips, an interactive installation, and timeline tracing the life and career of the Asian American icon. On view through Sept. 8. Join us for the opening reception on May 9.
Screening of Piccadilly + Book Signing
With live accompaniment by Ben Model
And discussion with Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll
$18 Public | $12 Members
E.A. Dupont's silent masterpiece stars the sultry Anna May Wong in her greatest role. After many years of supporting roles in Hollywood, Wong left for Europe in search of better work. And did she find it! Her electric, sexually-charged performance in Piccadilly is a revelation. Wong is mesmerizing as Shosho, the Chinese scullery maid at a Piccadilly nightclub who overnight becomes the toast of London - and the object of desire of all around her. Piccadilly was the brilliant apex to director E. A. Dupont’s trilogy of theater films (Varieté and Moulin Rouge), showcasing his signature mix of magnificent acting, dazzling imagery and balletic camera movements. (1929, 108 mins)
BIO International Annual Conference: Writing Asian & Asian American Biography
As authors of current and forthcoming biographies, our panel will discuss the following questions: How can we pitch Asian or Asian American themed content for broad audiences? What surprises and challenges come from researching across language, borders, and specific art forms? How do we gain the trust of our subjects’ families, and how does the past reveal itself to the digital age? (ISSUES TRACK)
Moderator
Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China and Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong. She is also the co-editor of Hong Kong Noir and a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, and World Literature Today. Her work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Pop Matters, and the South China Morning Post. Blumberg-Kason lives in the Chicago suburbs.
Panelists
Karen Fang is a film scholar and cultural critic who writes and speaks for museums and film festivals around the world. Her newest book, Background Artist: The Life and Work of Tyrus Wong, is a biography of the Chinese American immigrant artist who helped make the Disney animated classic Bambi. A specialist on the intersection of Eastern and Western aesthetics, Fang has also written about the cross-cultural influences between Hong Kong and Hollywood cinema and the impact of exotic artifacts on 19th-century British writing. Her writing on Tyrus Wong has also appeared in Smithsonian magazine, Hyperallergic, and on the popular public radio series The Engines of Our Ingenuity.
Katie Gee Salisbury is the author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong (Dutton, 2024), a new biography of the first Asian American movie star. Salisbury’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Believer, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and elsewhere. She was a finalist for the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in 2021 and gave the TED Talk “As American as Chop Suey.” Gee Salisbury also writes the newsletter “Half-Caste Woman.” A fifth-generation Chinese American who hails from Southern California, she now lives in Brooklyn.
Sung-Yoon Lee, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, is the author of The Sister: The Extraordinary Story of Kim Yo Jong, the Most Powerful Woman in North Korea, published in America by Public Affairs in September 2023. Previously, Dr. Lee, born and raised in South Korea, taught Korean history at the Fletcher School, Tufts University.
Chinese Americans in Classic Hollywood: From Chinatown Movie Extras to Anna May Wong
Chinese Americans have been involved in the movie business since its earliest days, whether as extras, leading actors like Anna May Wong and Keye Luke, or Oscar-winning cinematographers like James Wong Howe. Join us for a presentation on Chinese Americans in early Hollywood with William Gow, author of Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community, and Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong, followed by conversation and audience questions. Hosted by Asian American Studies at Stanford, the Asian American Activities Center (A3C), and the Asian American Research Center at Stanford (AARCS).
Chinese Americans in Hollywood: A Virtual Conversation with Authors William Gow and Katie Gee Salisbury
Chinese Americans have been involved in the movie business since its earliest days, whether as extras, leading actors like Anna May Wong and Keye Luke, or Oscar-winning cinematographers like James Wong Howe. Join us virtually on May 22nd at 8 PM ET for a presentation on Chinese Americans in early Hollywood with William Gow, author of Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community, and Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong, followed by conversation and audience questions, moderated by Jenny Cho. Those in attendance will have a chance to receive free copies of William Gow and Katie Gee Salisbury’s books!
This event is co-hosted by OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates, OCA-Greater Washington, D.C. chapter, and 1882 Foundation.
Unmasking Anna May Wong Opening Reception
The Chinese American Museum invites you to the opening reception of our latest exhibition, Unmasking Anna May Wong on Thursday, May 23rd at 6:30 – 9:00 pm. CAM Members can have a special preview at 5:30pm.
Unmasking Anna May Wong honors Chinese American actress and legend, Anna May Wong. The exhibition pays tribute to the trailblazer and icon who challenged conventions against all odds and paved the way for greater diversity and representation. Look behind the curtain and explore her life beyond Hollywood. Unmasking Anna May Wong will run from May 24, 2024 – Jan 26, 2025.
Unmasking Anna May Wong
Unmasking Anna May Wong honors Chinese American actress and legend, Anna May Wong. The exhibition pays tribute to the trailblazer and icon who challenged conventions against all odds and paved the way for greater diversity and representation. Look behind the curtain and explore her life beyond Hollywood.
Anna May Wong and the Golden Age of Asian American Cinema with Jeff Yang and Arthur Dong
Authors Katie Gee Salisbury (Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong) and Jeff Yang (The Golden Screen: How Movies Made Asian America), discuss Anna May Wong and other underappreciated Asian American pioneers of the dawn of Hollywood. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Arthur Dong (Hollywood Chinese) moderates the conversation.
A book sale and signing follows.
Anna May Wong: Hollywood’s Unsung Heroine
History has long neglected the wild and inspiring story of Anna May Wong, a taboo-smashing star whose career left an indelible mark on Hollywood. In her time, she was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion icon. Plucked from her family’s laundry business in Los Angeles, Wong rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’s 1924 silent blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad. Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in protest.
Wong starred in acclaimed films in Berlin, Paris, and London. She dazzled royalty and heads of state across several nations, leaving trails of suitors in her wake. She returned to challenge Hollywood at its own game by speaking out about the industry’s blatant racism. She used her new stature to move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady and worked to reshape Asian American representation in film. Biographer Katie Gee Salisbury discusses the vibrant, radical career of a groundbreaking artist, bringing an unsung heroine to light and reclaiming her place in cinema history.
They Call Us Charlie Chan: Asian American Hollywood Then and Now with Jeff Yang and Phil Yu
More details to come soon
Screening of Pavement Butterfly
Special Features: Introduction by film historian Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong. Live piano accompaniment by Jon Mirsalis.
[GROßSTADTSCHMETTERLING: BALLADE EINER LIEBE]
Actress Anna May Wong, stifled by the racist limitations of Hollywood, found stardom and creative freedom in Europe. This rediscovered gem, the second of her three films with German director Richard Eichberg, showcases Wong's extraordinary talent in a role not based on her "exoticism" but on her screen presence and acting ability. A fan-dancer participating in a carnival act that goes wrong, Wong's dancer flees and finds refuge with an artist, becoming his muse. An encounter with her past leads her to escape again, this time to the streets, where she is rescued by a baron, who is captivated by her portrait and offers her salvation. Yet in glamorous Monte Carlo, she faces the ultimate choice: will she succumb to a life of luxury as a kept woman or embrace independence? Wong's nuanced performance reveals a woman fighting for agency, while breathtaking cinematography makes this one of the era's most visually stunning silent films. DIR Richard Eichberg; SCR Hans Kyser, from the novel by Adolf Lantz. Germany/UK, 1929, b&w, 96 min. Silent with German intertitles and English subtitles. NOT RATED
4K DCP restoration by Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, courtesy of Beta Film.
Screening of Shanghai Express
Special Features: Introduction by film historian Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong
"It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily." The befeathered courtesan (Marlene Dietrich) meets a stoic Army man and ex-lover (Clive Brook) on the titular Shanghai Express traveling across war-torn China, but their wistful reminiscing is interrupted when a bandit (Warner Oland) demands an unscheduled stop. While the real Sino-Japanese war was in the headlines and revolution in the air, director Josef von Sternberg chose to portray a dreamscape of atmosphere, threat and sexual tension. Legendary cinematographer Lee Garmes won an Oscar® for his striking cinematography and Anna May Wong shines as a reformed courtesan trying to leave her past behind. The motley crew of characters share a train compartment as well as murky pasts and uncertain morals, yet it is ultimately Wong's character who exerts control over her destiny. DIR Josef von Sternberg; SCR Jules Furthman, from a short story by Harry Hervey; PROD Adolph Zukor. U.S., 1932, b&w, 82 min. NOT RATED
Opening Reception: Not Your China Doll: Anna May Wong's Trailblazing Career
Curated by Katie Gee Salisbury, the author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong, Pearl River Mart’s newest exhibition shines a light on the life and career of Hollywood’s first Asian American movie star.
Chinese Americans in Classic Hollywood: Anna May Wong, Tyrus Wong, and the Chinatown Extras Who Made Movie Magic
To kick off AANHPI Heritage Month, join Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club (SAPAAC) for a virtual literary discussion with three authors who have written about the important contributions of Chinese Americans in Hollywood: Karen Fang, author of Background Artist: The Life and Work of Tyrus Wong, William Gow, author of Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community, and Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong. This virtual event is open to all Stanford alumni and will be moderated by New York Times best-selling author and journalist, Jeff Yang, author of The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America.
MOCA TALKS – Reclaiming the Spotlight: The Life and Legacy of Anna May Wong
Watch a replay of the event on YouTube: Part 1 & Part 2
The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) cordially invites you to a captivating evening dedicated to the legendary Anna May Wong, Hollywood’s first Asian American star, whose luminous journey shattered stereotypes and paved the way for future generations. This event brings together three distinguished authors, Graham Russell Gao Hodges, Yunte Huang, and Katie Gee Salisbury, each of whom has chronicled the remarkable life of Anna May Wong in their books.
Graham Russell Gao Hodges’ Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend (2023) illustrates the epic tale of Wong’s rise to stardom amidst the challenges posed by prevailing prejudices. Hodges captures Wong’s prolific career, her iconic roles alongside Hollywood royalty, and her tenacious spirit in the face of discrimination, providing a comprehensive overview of her impact on film and American culture.
Yunte Huang, in Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History (2023), offers a profound re-examination of Wong’s legacy within the tumultuous currents of twentieth-century history. Huang traces Wong’s journey from the streets of Chinatown to the global stage, highlighting her encounters with luminaries and her relentless fight against the racial and sexist stereotypes in Hollywood.
Katie Gee Salisbury, in Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong (2024), paints a vivid picture of Wong’s legacy against the glittering backdrop of the Jazz Age and the burgeoning Hollywood. Salisbury celebrates Wong’s ascent from a humble family laundry business to becoming a symbol of grace, who not only captivated audiences worldwide but also unapologetically challenged Hollywood’s racist caricatures.
Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the vibrant life and enduring legacy of Anna May Wong, whose brilliance and determination continue to inspire and resonate across generations.
Screening of Shanghai Express + Book Signing
An intoxicating mix of adventure, romance, and pre-Code* salaciousness, Shanghai Express marks the commercial peak of an iconic collaboration. Marlene Dietrich is at her wicked best as Shanghai Lily, a courtesan whose reputation brings a hint of scandal to a three-day train ride through war-torn China. On board, she is surrounded by a motley crew of foreigners and lowlifes, including a fellow fallen woman (Anna May Wong), an old flame (Clive Brook), and a rebel leader wanted by the authorities (Warner Oland).
As tensions come to a boil, director Josef von Sternberg delivers one breathtaking image after another, enveloping his star in a decadent profusion of feathers, furs, and cigarette smoke. The result is a triumph of studio filmmaking and a testament to the mythic power of Hollywood glamour.
Director: Josef von Sternberg (US 1932) 82 min.
*The “Pre-Code” Era was a short time, roughly 1930 to 1934, when American movies were at their most raucous and racy.
Screening of Piccadilly + Book Signing
Co-Presented by the Center for Asian American Media
Intro, book talk & signing with Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll. Books available at the theater thanks to co-presenter Green Apple Books.
“Wong’s role of Shosho, the red-hot dancing star of London’s Piccadilly nightclub, shows her at her dramatic and erotic peak.” – Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Anna May Wong stars in E.A. Dupont’s PICCADILLY, the mesmerizing silent masterpiece about a maid who overcomes her station to become the toast of London. As his nightclub suffers to a convoluted love triangle among the staff, Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) has a chance encounter with scullery maid Shosho (Wong) and enlists her talents as both a beauty and a dancer to reignite the club’s spark. This rediscovered classic also stars Gilda Gray as the enchanting dancer Mabel, who shines alongside Wong, and Alfred Junge’s astonishing set design looks better than ever thanks to brilliantly restored footage by the British Film Institute.
In conversation with Jeff Yang at Vroman's
Set against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles during the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this debut book celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine to light and reclaim her place in cinema history.
Before Constance Wu, Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, or Lucy Liu, there was Anna May Wong. In her time, she was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion icon. Plucked from her family's laundry business in Los Angeles, Anna May Wong rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks's blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad. Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in protest.
Anna May starred in acclaimed films in Berlin, Paris, and London. She dazzled royalty and heads of state across several nations, leaving trails of suitors in her wake. She returned to challenge Hollywood at its own game by speaking out about the industry's blatant racism. She used her new stature to move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady, and worked to reshape Asian American representation in film.
Filled with stories of capricious directors and admiring costars, glamorous parties and far-flung love affairs, Not Your China Doll showcases the vibrant, radical life of a groundbreaking artist. (Dutton)
Jeff Yang is a writer, journalist, producer and screenwriter, and the author of The Golden Screen: The Movies that Made Asian America and co-author of the New York Times bestselling RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now, as well as Once Upon a Time in China and I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, the action icon's autobiography. He's currently working with Academy Award-nominated director Renee Tajima-Peña and the Center for Asian American Media to develop The Golden Screen as a five-part PBS documentary.
In conversation with Nancy Wang Yuen at CAMLA
Join the Chinese American Museum on Tuesday, March 19th at 6:30pm for the next installment of Beyond the Page for the West Coast launch of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong by Katie Gee Salisbury. Salisbury’s debut book celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine to light and reclaim her place in cinema history.
Explore in-depth the life of Anna May Wong behind the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles during the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood. Joining the conversation with Salisbury is pop culture specialist Nancy Wang Yuen.
Registrants can pre-order a copy “Not Your China Doll” and will receive a special discount by using a promotion code. Reserved orders can be picked up at the event. Salisbury will be available to sign pre-order copies of the book. Use the link rep.club/not-your-china-doll to pre-order your signed book now!
About the Author:
Katie Gee Salisbury is the author of “Not Your China Doll”, a new biography of Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Believer, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and elsewhere. She was a finalist for the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in 2021 and gave the TED Talk “As American as Chop Suey”. She also writes the newsletter “Half-Caste Woman”. A fifth-generation Chinese American who hails from Southern California, she now lives in Brooklyn.
Follow Katie Gee Salisbury on Instagram @kayteesal
About the Moderator:
Nancy Wang Yuen is a sociologist and pop culture expert. She is the author of “Reel Inequality: Hollywood and Racism” and co-author of “The Prevalence and Portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islanders Across 1,300 Popular Films”. She has appeared on multiple networks, including PBS, BBC World and Turner Classic Movies. She is a guest writer for CNN, Elle, LA Times, NBC, Newsweek, Today, and Vanity Fair. Yuen is currently writing a book about her life through the films and TV shows she grew up watching.
In conversation with Lisa Ling at Zibby's Bookshop
Watch a replay of the event on YouTube
In conversation with Mayukh Sen + Screening of Daughter of Shanghai at Metrograph
Admission to this special event comes with a drink ticket to the pre-reception, beginning at 8pm in the lower lobby.
Anna May Wong, the preeminent Chinese American movie star of her day. After rising to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’s blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and performing in acclaimed films in Berlin, Paris, and London, she returned to Hollywood, where she spoke out about the industry’s racism, and used her new stature to reshape Asian American representation in film. To celebrate the publication of Katie Gee Salisbury’s debut biography Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong, which showcases the vibrant, radical life of this groundbreaking artist, join Salisbury and New Yorker writer Mayukh Sen for an extended introduction before a screening of Robert Florey’s 1937 Wong-showcase Daughter of Shanghai.
Wong, the preeminent Chinese American actress of her day, newly returned to Hollywood after a sojourn in Europe, plays art gallery owner-cum-detective Lan Ying Lin in French-born genre specialist Florey’s economical, drum-tight thriller, which sees our heroine team up with Korean American actor Philip Ahn’s government agent in order to hunt down the dastardly European head of a human trafficking ring. With its two Asian American leads—former classmates at Los Angeles’s Central Junior HS, no less—clearing up a case of Caucasian mischief, Daughter of Shanghai is not only a true outlier in lily white Tinseltown, but a corker of a crime pic.
Pre-screening discussion with author Katie Gee Salisbury and New Yorker writer Mayukh Sen.
Sponsored in part by Asian CineVision and Yao King
NYC Book Launch at The Strand + In conversation with Ed Park
Join us for an in-person event with writer Katie Gee Salisbury for the release of her debut book Not Your China Doll. Joining Katie in conversation is author Ed Park. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.
NYC Book Party at Red Pavilion
For one night only, we're reimagining Anna May Wong's jazz age bungalow inside the walls of Red Pavilion to celebrate the publication of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong, a new biography of the first Asian American movie star by Katie Gee Salisbury.
As Wong's fame and allure grew in Hollywood during the 1920s, she often entertained fellow performers, artists, writers, and other bohemians in the bungalow behind her father's laundry. "Men and women from the world of art and letters seek her out," Helen Carlisle writes in Motion Picture Magazine. "Many a celebrity has visited the little house where she serves tea in a truly ceremonious manner."
Party highlights will include:
A reading from Not Your China Doll by author Katie Gee Salisbury
Book signing
Tarot readings by Helen
Tunes by DJ YiuYiu 瑶瑶 of Chinatown Records
Tea served by Tea Arts & Culture
Cash bar
Books & Burlesque
Spring is in the air and Books and Burlesque is back Saturday, March 9th from 9:00-11:00pm at Caveat bringing you all the sexy showiness and must-reads of the season!
Featuring exciting award-winning authors reading excerpts from their new books:
Shashtri Akella “The Sea Elephants” (queer coming of age novel) , Jeanne Mackin “Picasso's Lovers” (historical fiction), Katie Gee Salisbury “Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong” (biography), Hilary Leichter “Terrace Story: A Novel" (fiction), and Richard Mirabella “Brother & Sister Enter the Forest: A Novel” (fiction).
Each author has been paired with a spectacular burlesque or drag performer who will be creating new acts inspired by the books they read! Starring Minnie Tonka, Mizzaddy, RuAfza, Dominant Jeane and Fortune Cookie. With stage kittens Scarlet Song, Sideshow Scandal, and Racy DeClare. Co-produced by Rosie Tulips and hosted by Fortune Cookie!
Our local bookstore partner, Book Club Bar (197 East 3rd Street) will be selling signed copies of all our featured authors books.
Discounted early bird tickets will sell out so get them as soon as you can here before February 10th!
Icon of the Silver Screen: A Captivating Lobby Card Exhibit
Anna May Wong, born Wong Liu Tsong in 1905 Los Angeles, emerged as a trailblazing figure in Hollywood, becoming the first Asian American movie star. During her four-decade career, Anna May Wong's talent graced over 70 films, television shows, theaters, and radio programs.
Live Q&A with Rebecca Grace Lee
Join us for a live Q&A with Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll, a new biography of Anna May Wong that will be released in March 2024. Katie will discuss her upcoming book and answer questions based on her in-depth knowledge of Anna May Wong. This online event will be hosted by Rebecca Lee, creator of The Gallery of Anna May Wong & Anna May Wong Fans.
Replay the livestream on YouTube
