Daughter of Shanghai + King of Chinatown

+ intro by Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll

Two collaborations between Wong and Korean American actor Philip Ahn.

Returning from China, Wong found opportunities in Paramount B-movies to play positive roles with unprecedented agency: a detective in Daughter of Shanghai and a surgeon – modelled after Dr Margaret ‘Mom’ Chung (the first-known American-born woman of Chinese descent to become a physician) – in King of Chinatown. Wong was joined in both films by childhood friend Philip Ahn, son of a prominent Korean independence activist. In Daughter of Shanghai, they performed the first Asian American romantic couple of the sound era on the American screen.

Total running time 123min.

King of Chinatown content warning: Contains racist attitudes, language and images, including yellowface.