How Suzie Wong wooed the world’s book critics in 1957
‘A thrilling, imaginative experience’, ‘a masterly study of humanity at its best and its worst’ – it’s fair to say Richard Mason’s story of Wong and her fellow Wan Chai ‘yum yum’ bar girls captivated the literary press upon its release
Hong Kong would be hard-pressed to find a character that conjures up a single image of the city quite like Wan Chai bar girl Suzie Wong since she appeared in print in 1957. The heroine of Richard Mason’s bestselling novel, The World of Suzie Wong, captured the world’s imagination at a time when sex, prostitution and interracial relationships were still taboo subjects.
Mason’s straightforward storytelling ensures the romance of budding English artist Robert Lomax and Wong never becomes cheap or takes a misstep. His descriptions of Hong Kong’s people and places – many of which have been lost to development and reclamation – remain fresh. And the appeal of his book’s lovers – even after 60 years – is very much alive.
His first-person narrative grips right from the start: “She came through the turnstile and joined the crowd waiting for the ferry …”
We follow Lomax’s gaze as he watches a pretty Chinese girl waiting to board the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui. She stands only a metre away, expertly cracking open melon seeds with her teeth.
“Her eyes caught mine. They seemed to linger, so I said, ‘I wish I could do that.’
