J.J. ChenG, creatOR OF PHOENIXA
A Mystical Quest for Peace
作家 程一若 《鳳程》東方神話傳奇文學系列
J.J. ChenG 程一若
AUTHOR of PHOENIXA TRILOGY
英文長篇小說《鳳巢》 跨文化作家
作家 影人 簡介
程娟，字一若，又名長鳳，英文名 J.J.Cheng, 又名Joanne Cheng，跨文化雙語作家和影視導演製片。祖籍中國婺源，祖上徽商望族。 原中央電視台對外部英語記者和主持人，擅長用英文講中國故事和跨文化評論，國際公關和雙語教育。
北京外國語大學英文/新聞系畢業并在央視從業後於1988年赴美並在馬里蘭大學深造影視碩士。畢業後曾在美國之音，CBS 美國哥伦比亚广播公司，亞美廣告公司工作。時值九十年代中國對外開放熱潮，於1993年在紐約建立東西走廊國際傳媒公司進行中美文化交流和商業公關項目以及雙語影視製作及合拍片譯製片等30余載其中包括1995年代理美國小說家Mario Puzo《教父》續集版權進入中國市場；為1998年紐約首次中國電影及節以及中國電影代表團出訪好萊塢雙語公關；為美國PBS電視片《美籍華人》全美播出雙語公關等。
程獨立獲獎紀錄片作品有在美國公共電視播放2000年出品的《東方淘金-現代中國肖像》，2003年的《金娃娃-香格里拉的孤兒》，2006年的《中國金蓮-千年纏足遺證》，2015年的《一蝶-子宮狂想曲》和2019年的《喜喪-長壽的秘密》等。
程自2014年中華尋根以來，深受祖父程振鈞和世代程家先祖生命事跡的啟發，程一若以融家史國史於中國神話以及追求靈性升華的精神創作出文學作品中華尋根程脈溯源《鳳程》三部曲長篇英文玄幻小說：《鳳巢》2023-2025分別出版紙質書，電子書和有聲書。《鳳飛》2026出版，《鳳歸》2027出版；與此同時，中華尋根程脈溯源雙語紀錄片系列 《程脈》2025年秋冬問世。
Photography by Steven Speliotis
J.J. Cheng is a Chinese American author and cultural historian, born in Beijing into a prestigious intellectual family just before the Cultural Revolution. A former pioneering English-language broadcaster for China Central Television (CCTV), Cheng was instrumental in shaping China’s early media outreach to international audiences. Her lived experience spans three transformative decades of Chinese history, from political upheaval to economic reform. After relocating to the United States in 1988 to pursue advanced studies in TV-Film, Cheng briefly worked at CBS and later took on assignments as a translator/investigative journalist for ABC, MTV, and the Discovery Channel, before founding her own PR/advertising firm, helping U.S. and international businesses enter China/Chinese markets throughout the 1990s. Building on her unique bicultural insight and media expertise, she became a bridge between East and West during a pivotal decade of global expansion and cultural exchange.
Bi-continental and bilingual, Cheng is also an award-winning intercultural filmmaker whose documentary work has received international acclaim. Her China Gold Trilogy includes CHINA GOLD RUSH (2000, PBS/WLIW21), MAMA’S GOLD: The Orphans of Shangri-La (2003), and GOLDEN LOTUS: The Legacy of Bound Feet (2006). Her later independent works include c/o BUTTERFLY: A Rhapsody of the Womb (2015) and RED FAREWELL: The Secret of Longevity (2019), both poetic meditations on memory, identity, mortality, and generational healing; Cheng has also served as an associate professor of Cinema and Television, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in the United States and China. She holds a B.A. in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University and an M.A. in Communication Arts, TV & Film, from the University of Maryland.
Cheng turned to writing during the COVID-19 pandemic as a means of documenting the fragmentation of cultural memory and the erosion of traditional values, including the dismantling of her own family heritage at the turn of the 21st century. Cheng traces her lineage all the way back to the 11th-century Neo-Confucian philosopher, Cheng Hao, excavating spiritual relics and cosmic wisdom buried for centuries.
J.J. Cheng is the sole creator and author of PHOENIXA: The Nest, A Mystical Quest for the Cheng Legacy, the first book of the PHOENIXA Saga: The Nest (2025), The Flight (2026), and The Return (2027). Inspired by her grandfather Cheng Zhen Jun, a pioneering modernizer of the Republic of China, the trilogy blends family history, social realism with myth, fantasy, and cosmic spirituality. Cheng wrote, illustrated, and narrated the entire series.
Cheng is also the creator of CHENG LEGACY: An Ancestral Quest for Modern China, a companion 20-part documentary series (2025-2026) that follows Cheng’s journey into the heartland of China searching for her ancestral roots, reviving long-buried cultural memory amidst China’s transformation.
J.J. Cheng（程娟，字一若，號長鳳） is a Chinese American award-winning author, filmmaker, and cultural historian. Born in Beijing into a prestigious intellectual family just before the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Cheng is a former pioneering English-language broadcaster for China Central Television (CCTV), Cheng was instrumental in shaping China’s early media outreach to international audiences. Her lived experience spans three transformative decades of Chinese history, from political upheaval to economic reform. After relocating to the United States in 1988 to pursue her MA in TV-Film, Cheng briefly worked at CBS and later took on assignments as a translator/investigative journalist for ABC, MTV, and the Discovery Channel, before founding her own PR/advertising firm, helping U.S. and international businesses enter China/Chinese markets throughout the 1990s. Building on her unique bicultural insight and media expertise, she became a bridge between East and West during a pivotal decade of global expansion and cultural exchange..
Bi-continental and bilingual, Cheng is also an award-winning intercultural filmmaker whose documentary work has received international acclaim. Her China Gold Trilogy includes CHINA GOLD RUSH (2000, PBS/WLIW21), MAMA’S GOLD: The Orphans of Shangri-La (2003), and GOLDEN LOTUS: The Legacy of Bound Feet (2006). Her later independent works include c/o BUTTERFLY: A Rhapsody of the Womb (2015) and RED FAREWELL: The Secret of Longevity (2019), both poetic meditations on memory, identity, mortality, and generational healing; Cheng has also served as an associate professor of Cinema and Television, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in the United States and China. She holds a B.A. in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University and an M.A. in Communication Arts, TV & Film, from the University of Maryland.
Cheng turned to writing during the COVID-19 pandemic as a means of documenting the fragmentation of cultural memory and the erosion of traditional values, including the dismantling of her own family heritage at the turn of the 21st century. Cheng traces her lineage all the way back to the 11th-century Neo-Confucian philosopher, Cheng Hao, excavating spiritual relics and cosmic wisdom buried for centuries.
J.J. Cheng is the sole creator and author of PHOENIXA: The Nest, A Mystical Quest for the Cheng Legacy, the first book of the PHOENIXA Saga: The Nest (2025), The One ( prequel, 2026 ), Flight (2027), and The Return (2028). Inspired by her grandfather Cheng Zhen Jun (程振鈞), the series blends family history, social realism with myth, fantasy, and cosmic spirituality. Cheng wrote, illustrated, and narrated the entire series.
Cheng is also the creator of CHENG LEGACY: An Ancestral Quest for Modern China, a companion 20-part documentary series (2026) that follows her journey into the heartland of China in search of her ancestral roots, retracing the footsteps of her grandfather, Cheng Zhenjun. The series seeks to recover erased personal and national memories long buried beneath China’s tumultuous passage into modernity.
@West Lake Expo Museum, Hangzhou, China, 2015 ( from left to right)
@West Lake Expo Museum, Hang Zhou, China, 2015
J.J Cheng: Where Insight meets EXPERIENCE
Cheng shares her Creative INSIGHTS
A Red Baby Born into Darkness
"Phoenixa is a six-year-old little girl
who was born in the pre-cultural revolution period. In the 1960s, that was a time when China was experiencing all kinds of famine and also the political movement was such it denounced intellectuals. The crisis crescendoed up until 1966 for the next ten years. So Phoenixa was a child, a Mao child, a red baby born in the darkness. Darkness, in terms of civilization. China was plunged into the grip of communism, which proclaims to be saving the people from misery, but the result was such that people were more miserable.”
Phoenixa Cheng
The Suitcase Was My Bed
"A travelling suitcase is an entity
that brings you to another world, right? I think a suitcase is a history holder, a memory holder. It’s almost like an envelope, except it’s a large one. Suitcase…I think it travels between spaces. The suitcase itself has life. It goes through different continents. The suitcase sees it all. When we forget things, the suitcases remember. My mother has kept a suitcase. Because she said that was my bed.”
Phoenixa Cheng
A MEDITATION On WAR
I am stunned, seeing aggression on the move
So bluntly under the sky of the 21st century
What’s wrong with us?
Have we lost our compass?
My headache excruciates me to no endIn a moment of quandary
I came to my painful awakening
Humanity is on the brink of disgrace
Peace in our palms that we take for granted is,
In fact, so precious, so fragile
It could be stolen
when we are off guard
What shall we do or not do
I pray for guidance
According to the Chinese sages,
Heaven is the source of all lives and enlightenment
By looking up and be open to receive its instructions
I am empowered to confront the darkness both inside and outside of me
For Peace around us
For peace around the world
For peace inside of us
Let’s shine as the source of light
Even when we are soaked in BLACK.
Phoenixa Cheng
Feb, 24th, 2022
Flexing her Hidden Wings
"Phoenixa is a girl with hidden wings.
Her wings are usually folded when she is outside with crowds. Her wings will rise and open when she is by herself, when she is in touch with nature, when she is in touch with spirits, when she is in touch with beings in different dimensions. So she was born to fly. So come along, children and adults, come along!”
Phoenixa Cheng