A sequel to Dragon Seed, The Promise, appeared in 1943. The sequel chronicles the Chinese campaign in Burma. Lao San, renamed Sheng, is one of the leaders who takes his men to Burma in order to aid the British forces there.

Mayli accompanies him as the head of a corps of nurses. Although the Chinese troops fight courageously, most of them perish because of a tactical error made by the British. Sheng survives, but he is bitterly disappointed in the Allies, who apparently refuse to treat the Chinese as real allies.