J. J. Cheng
AUTHOR

J. J. Cheng

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J.J. Cheng (程一若) is an award-winning Chinese American author, filmmaker, former television journalist, and Cheng family historian whose work explores myth, memory, history, and the search for peace across civilizations.

Her debut novel, PHOENIXA: THE NEST: A Mystical Quest for the Cheng Legacy《鳳巢》, received the 2026 Nautilus Gold Book Award, the 2026 Literary Titan Gold Book Award, and was a Semi-Finalist for the 2025 Somerset Book Award. Blending Chinese mythology, ancestral memory, history, and memoir, the novel launches The PHOENIXA Saga: A Mystical Quest for Peace《鳳程》問道和平, an epic literary universe inspired by the ancient Chinese classic Shan Hai Jing《山海經》 (The Lore of Mountains and Seas).

Born in Beijing and later immigrating to the United States, Cheng was among the early generation of English-language broadcasters in China. Drawing on her family's roots in the Cheng lineage of Neo-Confucian philosopher Cheng Hao (程顥), her work explores the intersections of power and peace, memory and modernity, and East and West.

Based in New York, Cheng founded East-West Corridor Communications and East-West Corridor Press. Her film and television credits include the award-winning PBS documentary China Gold Rush《東方淘金》, Mama's Gold《金娃娃》, Golden Lotus《中國金蓮》, Red Farewell《喜喪》, and c/o Butterfly《一蝶》. She has taught Cinema and Television in both the United States and China and has served on juries for international film festivals.

Cheng is also the creator of CHENG LEGACY: An Ancestral Quest for Modern China《問祖程脈》, an upcoming documentary series tracing the life and legacy of her grandfather, Cheng Zhen Jun (程振鈞, 1888–1932), an early Chinese modernizer who inspired the guiding grandfather figure in PHOENIXA: THE NEST.

Through literature, film, and media, Cheng seeks to build cultural bridges and explore how ancient wisdom may help humanity navigate an increasingly interconnected world.
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