Woo Lung Wong was first published as a serial comic strip in the Guangzhou newspaper Chum Po in 1946. The central character was the rotund and moustachioed Wong Lung Woo, nicknamed Woo Lung Wong or ‘addlebrained Wong’, depicted as a greedy bully dressed in a traditional Chinese cheongsam. The cartoon’s audacity in chastising corrupt and incompetent government officials and highlighting real-life social injustices in post-war Guangzhou through the caricatures of Wong and his fellow protagonists made it an instant hit with the general public. Readers throughout South China – in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau – responded to the witty and satirical content of these comic strips with a hearty embrace, and to meet popular demand the cartoons were later compiled and distributed as comic books. In 1947, each issue of these publications sold 100,000 copies in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

When the new China came into being in 1949, Woo Lung Wong relocated to Hong Kong, where it was launched in a large-size format in the newspaper Chung Sing Po. With its sardonic yet accurate portrayal of life as it was experienced in local society, the strip became one of Hong Kong’s favourite comic series at the time. Woo Lung Wong was also published in daily and serial strips in other publications such as Caricature Daily, Entertainment News and Chun Lan Yat Po, as well as in bound comic titles.

In the 1960s, however, the advent of improved economic conditions in Hong Kong and the impact of foreign culture triggered a proliferation of genres and themes on the local cartoon scene. The predominantly social satire of Woo Lung Wong gradually faded from local newspapers, turning instead for distribution to single volumes in Southeast Asian locations. Woo Lung Wong then ceased publication in the late 1960s as a result of royalty issues.