Author and Actor. Born Hsi Tseng Tsiang in China, he emigrated to New York with his family as a child. An outspoken leftist, he was involved in the Greenwich Village literary scene of the 1920s and 1930s, publishing socially-conscious poetry and fiction. His protest poems "Chinaman, Laundryman" (1928) and "Sacco, Vanzetti" (1928) were set to music as "Two Ricercari" (1931) by composer Ruth Crawford-Seeger. Tsiang's most important work is the novel "And China Has Hands" (1937), which seemed to foreshadow the downfall of China to Communism. At the start of World War II he suddenly changed careers and became an actor in Hollywood, appearing in such films as "Behind the Rising Sun" (1943), "The Keys of the Kingdom" (1944), "Tokyo Rose" (1946), "The Babe Ruth Story" (1948), "Panic in the Streets" (1950), and "Ocean's Eleven" (1960). He was also seen in the TV shows "Wagon Train", "Dr. Kildare", "Bonanza", "I Spy", and "Gunsmoke". Tsiang's writing has recently enjoyed renewed interest, with historians praising him as a pioneer of Chinese-American Literature. "And China Has Hands" was republished in 2004.
Author and Actor. Born Hsi Tseng Tsiang in China, he emigrated to New York with his family as a child. An outspoken leftist, he was involved in the Greenwich Village literary scene of the 1920s and 1930s, publishing socially-conscious poetry and fiction. His protest poems "Chinaman, Laundryman" (1928) and "Sacco, Vanzetti" (1928) were set to music as "Two Ricercari" (1931) by composer Ruth Crawford-Seeger. Tsiang's most important work is the novel "And China Has Hands" (1937), which seemed to foreshadow the downfall of China to Communism. At the start of World War II he suddenly changed careers and became an actor in Hollywood, appearing in such films as "Behind the Rising Sun" (1943), "The Keys of the Kingdom" (1944), "Tokyo Rose" (1946), "The Babe Ruth Story" (1948), "Panic in the Streets" (1950), and "Ocean's Eleven" (1960). He was also seen in the TV shows "Wagon Train", "Dr. Kildare", "Bonanza", "I Spy", and "Gunsmoke". Tsiang's writing has recently enjoyed renewed interest, with historians praising him as a pioneer of Chinese-American Literature. "And China Has Hands" was republished in 2004.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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