Celebrating Anna May Wong for AAPI Heritage Month 2024
upcoming events at Pearl River Mart, Santa Monica Public Library, Smithsonian Associates & more
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Choose your preferred acronym: APAHM, AAPI, AANHPI, etc. The list is too long to keep track of, but here’s what it boils down to—an opportunity to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
That means I’m doing double duty on Anna May Wong this month. A fitting time, since the movie star once declared May her favorite month; she liked it so much, she added it to her own name. You’ll be hearing from me a lot in the weeks ahead. And there will be chances to get your book signed in person at events in New York and California or tune in virtually to hear me speak about AMW.
One project I’m especially excited and proud to share is a three-part exhibition at Pearl River Mart in New York. As any local will tell you, Pearl River Mart is more than just a store that specializes in Asian goods, it’s an institution. This family-run business was founded more than 50 years ago by student activists Ming Yi And Ching Yeh Chen to provide Chinese Americans with hard-to-source products. In the process, it “became the place for the Chinese diaspora to find their favorite staples—from ginseng to porcelain tea sets. But more importantly, it was a site of belonging filled with reminders of home.”
Joanne Kwong, current president of PRM and daughter-in-law of the Chens, has been a longtime friend and supporter of my work. (My wedding favors were mini tea cups from PRM!) When I asked her if she would be interested in an exhibition on AMW for the shop’s dedicated gallery space, she responded almost immediately with an enthusiastic yes.
Thanks to Joanne, and with help from Angela Tung and Christine Wong, PRM’s Soho store is hosting Not Your China Doll: A Retrospective of Anna May Wong’s Trailblazing Career, an entire exhibition dedicated to AMW that includes archival photographs, ephemera, classic film clips (curated by Rebecca Grace Lee of The Gallery of Anna May Wong), an interactive installation, and timeline tracing the life and career of the Asian American icon. The show is free and open to the public, 11 am to 7 pm daily, until September 8. If you’re in the NYC area, join us for the opening reception this coming Thursday, May 9! Tickets available here. This event is generously sponsored by Nom Wah, Moshi Sparkling Drinks, and Lunar Hard Seltzer, so there will be plenty of food and drink on hand.
Next, at PRM’s Chelsea Market location, we’re exhibiting Not Your China Doll: Art Inspired by Anna May Wong, a show that brings together artwork from six AAPI and POC women artists working across various mediums, including oil paints, charcoal and ink, illustration, digital art, and collage. You can view their work in the hallways of Chelsea Market for the entire month of May. A spotlight on the six artists will follow in a future newsletter.
Finally, in the Meatpacking District, we’ve put together a series called Young Hollywood Was Asian that highlights 9 AAPI figures in early Hollywood, including AMW, Sessue Hayakawa, Elena Jurado, James Wong Howe, and many others. Their photos and stories are printed on brightly colored tables set out in the pedestrian areas. Check them out on your next lunch or coffee break!
A few other recent updates: I created a free reader’s guide with suggested topics and questions to enhance your reading experience of Not Your China Doll or kick start the discussion at your next book club.
Margot Seeto wrote this wonderful piece about AMW’s relationship with San Francisco for SFGATE. I especially loved the opening paragraph, which reminds us how AMW’s Chinatown chase scene in Impact (1948) is a gem of cinema history.
The SF Chronicle named NYCD one of 18 new books that celebrate the Asian American experience (thanks, Hannah Bae!). And in case you missed it, I spoke about AMW with Samira Ahmed on BBC Radio 4 and with Nicholas Gordon on the Asian Review of Books Podcast.
Stay tuned for an essay in next week’s newsletter. Until then, check out all the events I’ve got in store for May below. Happy AAPI Heritage Month!
Upcoming Events
May 8, 3 pm PST / 6 pm EST - Chinese Americans in Classic Hollywood: Anna May Wong, Tyrus Wong, and the Chinatown Extras Who Made Movie Magic
SAPAAC Virtual Webinar (open to Stanford Alumni)
Register
May 9, 6-9 pm - Opening Reception for Not Your China Doll: A Retrospective of Anna May Wong’s Trailblazing Career
Pearl River Mart
452 Broadway, New York, NY
Tickets
May 14, 7:30 pm - Screening of Piccadilly + Book Signing
Cinema Arts Centre
423 Park Ave, Huntington, NY
Tickets
May 17, 10:00-11:15 am - Writing Asian & Asian American Biography
BIO International Annual Conference
Leon Levy Center for Biography, CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tickets
May 22, 5 pm PST / 8 pm EST - Chinese Americans in Hollywood: A Virtual Conversation with Authors William Gow and Katie Gee Salisbury
OCA and 1882 Foundation Virtual Webinar
Register
May 24, 10 am - Book Talk
Arcadia Public Library
20 West Duarte Road, Arcadia, CA
May 25, 2:00 pm - Anna May Wong and the Golden Age of Asian American Cinema with Jeff Yang and Arthur Dong
Santa Monica Public Library
601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA
Learn more
May 30, 6:45 - 8 pm EST - Anna May Wong: Hollywood’s Unsung Heroine
Smithsonian Associates Virtual Webinar
Register
June 1, 10 - 11:30 am - They Call Us Charlie Chan: Asian American Hollywood Then and Now with Jeff Yang and Phil Yu
National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE)
Hawai’i Convention Center, Honolulu, HI
Learn more
Busy month in “The World of Wong”. Exciting!