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glass.”
    In China, she was a woman who looked Chinese, yet spoke American English and acted like a Westerner. She gave the impression that she was an integral part of Western society even when her roles smacked of blatant racism. In the eyes of the Chinese people especially, she epitomized success in the European American and white world.
    The fallout from the Guomindang censorship of Shanghai Express four years earlier would now affect Wong. Little did she know that her invitation as the guest of honour at a Guomindang banquet would result in public roasting.
    â€œThey made speeches that lasted for four hours, but instead of the usual ‘welcome to our city’ speeches, they all took turns berating me for the roles I played. Since I didn’t speak Mandarin then, I had to answer in English. I told them that when a person is trying to get established in a profession, she can’t choose parts. She has to take what is offered. I said I had come to China to learn and that I hoped I would be able to interpret our country in a better light. It all ended with their apologizing to me!”
    Anna for Asia
    After her sojourn to China in 1936, Wong’s roles became more positive, reflecting her vow only to appear in films with sympathetic portrayals of Asians. She transcended her angst about Hollywood and European-America and gained a new meaning as an enriched human being whose persona was beyond race and ethnicity. Wongplayed a variety of positive characters, including several brave and selfless heroines, crime fighters, and a doctor.
    As her roles changed, China’s role in the world also changed. After the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Hollywood’s attitude toward China changed as well. By 1941, China was firmly on the side of the Allied powers against fascism.
    In response, she made Bombs over Burma and The Lady from Chungking . In both films, Wong played a freedom fighter attempting to vanquish Japanese invaders. Although the films were low-budget and certainly not the high points of her career, Bombs over Burma and The Lady from Chungking provided Wong with the opportunity to express her political sentiments.
    In Retrospect
    Wong’s unparalleled career spanned over forty years, from 1919 to 1961, including more than fifty films and a television series. Wong has always had a place in Asian-America as the first Asian-American female film star. Evolving into a sophisticated and cosmopolitan woman with a self-contained persona and a global perspective who steadfastly refused to be submissive to males or any race or ethnicity, Wong predated the idea of the independent European-American woman of the 1950s. She was the type of woman that twenty-first-century feminists and women of agency and empowerment would have admired. In 1928, she defied Hollywood and dashed off to Europe and its accolades, celebrity, and fame. She returned to Hollywood in 1930 and took Broadway by storm with her portrayal of Minn Lee in On the Spot . By the time she signed to portray Madam Liang in Flower Drum Song , she had already lived many lives. It was as if her death at fifty-six came not from failing health, but from exhaustion after having lived a full and eventful life in many places and time zones.
    This excerpt was selected from the text and references in Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong, 1905–1961, Scarecrow Press, 2003. Reprinted with permission from the author .
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  A UTHOR C OMMENTARY
    â€œAnna May Wong: First Lady of Film” was a synopsis of the 2003 biography Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905–1961) . As a piece of nonfiction, it was the first biography of Anna May Wong with a significant Asian-North American sensibility. Wong was a feminist before feminism was in vogue and a sophisticated hipster with an aura of coolness that was revealed in her films, interviews, and attire. The highlight of the journey of Perpetually Cool came in