Entertainer and Hollywood agent Jadin Wong admits she despised her own Chinese community and its ideas about women as demure, submissive and domestic.
Her life is full of contradictions which defy those conventions.
Her story is told in the new book by Arthur Dong, Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1940 and recounted in an article in the Stockton Record.
“I’m very nice to people, but I’m not your average Chinese girl,” Wong said. “I kick tush.”
Wong ran away from home at age 16 to pursue her dreams, going on to be a dancer,” comedienne, film actress and high-powered agent.
She eventually landed at Charlie Low’s Forbidden City club in San Francisco and caught the attention of Life Magazine which featured her in a full page photo.
She entertained troops and was honored by the US House of Representatives. Later she would open up Jadin Wong Talent Management Co. and represent such actors and actresses as Joan Chen, Lou Diamond Phillips and Lucy Liu.
You can read more of her story and the honor she received from President Reagan in the Stockton Record.
