Phi Nhung is Amerasian - Vietnamese Mommy, American Daddy. American soldier?
I believe so. She was raised by her single mom in Pleiku, Vietnam. Later she came to America through a program to resettle Amerasians, who are not treated well in Vietnam.
Here's a favorite Peking Opera segment of mine, from "Ba Wang Bie Ji" - translated as "Farewell, My Concubine" (made into a 1993 Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige with a contemporary theme of a menage à trois between two men and a woman during the Cultural Revolution, the males having a gay relationship!). Here the rival for the Chinese throne Xiang Yu has been defeated by the forces of the future founder of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, and is forlornly contemplating his capture and execution. His concubine Yu tries to cheer him up: "Please, my lord, drink wine and listen to my song - let my dance soothe your troubled heart...The difference between victory and defeat, prosperity and demise is but a moment in time..."