Anna May Wong: Her History, Her Story, and Her Impact

In 1937, Anna May Wong auditioned for the role of O-Lan in The Good Earth. She had hoped to be cast for this role since the character was a Chinese woman. Instead, she was passed over for actress Luise Rainer for the main female lead role. Wong was offered the role of Lotus, a secondary character in the film. She refused the role, stating that she refused to use her Chinese ancestry to play the only unsympathetic role in an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters. Her rejection from the role of O-Lan was connected to the Hays Code. The code was a rule that prevented interracial relationships on screen. Because The Good Earth had already cast white actor Paul Muni as the male lead, casting Wong as the character’s wife would have placed an interracial relationship on screen. The Hays Code prohibited this so the role for a Chinese female lead was given to white actress Luise Rainer. In order to account for the lead character being all white, yellowface was done to all of them. The fact that Hollywood chose to reject Anna May Wong, auditioning for the role of a Chinese woman, for her race reveals the deep rooted discrimination in the film industry. Hollywood didn’t face an issue of not having any talented Chinese actors. Instead, they felt uncomfortable showcasing Chinese actors to their American audience and opted to cast white actors with yellowface for the film.