Nationalist diplomat was even partially responsible for Wong’s losing what would have been her greatest role, as O-lan in the 1937 movie version of Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth. T. K. Chang, a Chinese consul based in Los Angeles, argued that Wong was not “Chinese” enough for the part; so a white woman, Luise Rainer, who would go on to win an Academy Award, played the role in “yellow face” instead.
