The World of Suzie Wong
Written by Richard Mason

First published 1957
318 pages

Asian women are either whores, nerds, or bitches.  At least that’s what I’ve been led to believe by movies and TV.  And the one Asian girl I knew in primary school.  Either my teacher was uncommonly thick, or Zhang Wei really had it in for her.

The World of Suzie Wong is the story of an English architect-turned-artist who falls in love with a Chinese prostitute in 1950’s Hong Kong.  Bored with his current home in Malay, and frustrated by the “no-natives” rule imposed by his colonist employee, Robert Lomax travels to the British colony of Hong Kong to find inspiration for his real passion: painting the natives.  Settling down in a cheap, inauspicious hotel called Nam Kok in a run-down part of town, he discovers that he has inadvertently stumbled upon a popular hang-out for foreign sailors and their bar-girls.  However, because the rent is so cheap (the hotel proprietor being used to only booking out rooms for “short-times”), Lomax decides to stay on a monthly basis, considering the various patrons he meets at the hotel bar to be interesting subjects for his art. Lomax makes a home for himself at the hotel, becoming a friend and confidant to the regular bar-girls.  The bar-girls’ respect for Lomax derives from the fact he never tries to bed any of them, apparently not because he is gay or doesn’t want to, but because as an artist he is too poor.

Then one day Lomax meets Suzie Wong, a beautiful and petulant bar-girl, who is nonetheless innocently naïve and a romantic at heart.  The doomed couple realises, however, that a struggling artist and a prostitute with a kid do not a prosperous couple make, and the relationship breaks up because Suzie must go back to work.   Suzie does, however, pause for a brief spell in prison after stabbing a fellow bar-girl “between the titties” with a pair of scissors.

On one level, The World of Suzie Wong is a touching story about two people who love each other, despite each other’s flaws.   In particular, the book succeeds in evoking the smoky milieu of a different era and place.  However, it is difficult at times not to view the story purely as a colonialist’s wet-dream.  Add to this a depiction of Suzie Wong that has served to fuel the market for mail-order brides all over Asia.  Despite the fact that Suzie is a smart, independent woman with a career all of her own, Suzie still needs a man to save her from herself.  And although Suzie’s characteristics and attributes are amply expanded upon, Lomax’s character is almost never discussed.  On an objective level it is hard to see why Suzie even fell in love with Lomax in the first place, but it seems that this wasn’t a relevant issue for the book.

It is interesting to see how the world has subsequently judged Nancy Kwan, the half-Chinese half-British actress who played Suzie Wong in the 1960’s film version of the book.  While some view Kwan’s appearance as the first Asian lead in a Hollywood movie with pride, others see Kwan’s portrayal of Suzie Wong as the exemplar of the institutional sexism and racism facing Asian women.  

It is necessary to put the colonial anachronisms and political stigma attaching to the book to one side if you want to enjoy The World of Suzie Wong.  If you can achieve this, then it is possible to appreciate the book as a thoughtful love story, that explores the limits of  love and commitment.

Any sensitivities attaching to the book haven’t stopped The World of Suzie Wong from being one of the most popular stories of Hong Kong.  The book is even cited as a reference for those "new to intercultural relationships" on a website that tells men how to secure a Filipina bride.  And today The World of Suzie Wong is a popular bar in China drawing on the ambience of 1950’s colonial Hong Kong.  Legend is you can find young Chinese girls flashing their milky white breasts to foreign sailors there every night of the week.

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