AllMovie

Jerry Allen Davis's drama The Shanghai Hotel centers on Yin Yin (Eugenia Yuan), a young Chinese woman who wants to move to America. She braves a difficult journey by ship, only to discover after she arrives in her new home that she must work as a prostitute in order to pay back those who organized her trip. She is forced to spend her days in the establishment that gives the film its title, servicing clients, dreaming of escape, and eventually making contact with a kindly bike messenger.