Wang Chen-Yee

Wang Chen-Yee is a fictional character from "the Adventures of Tintin" series of classic comic books drawn and written by Hergé. His only appearance is in "The Blue Lotus" in which he plays an important part. His son Didi is also a major figure.

Wang was the Chinese leader of a secret society or brotherhood called the "Sons of the Dragon", which was dedicated to the fight against opium, which causes so much havoc in China.

Wang was a wealthy man who lived in a picturesque house in the outskirts of Shanghai with his wife, son and servants, who also acted as agents for his organisation.

Knowing that Tintin was fighting the same drug traffickers as he was, Wang sent one of his men to India where Tintin was staying as a guest of a local Maharaja. But before they could talk, the agent was struck by a dart which contained Rajaijah juice which drove people mad. This drug was used by the traffickers to deal with enemies and punish traitors. Driven mad, the agent was only able to mention Shanghai and "Mitsuhirato". Tintin later met a Japanese businessman named Mitsuhirato in Shanghai, who claimed that the agent was his and not Wang's.

When Tintin arrived in China, Wang sent his son, who was nicknamed Didi, to secretly defend Tintin from the numerous assassination attempts by Mitsuhirato, leader of the local branch of the traffickers. Didi did his job well, but for some reason refrained from making actual contact with Tintin. He did later arrange a rendez-vous in a Shanghai backstreet, but by then he had also been ambushed by his enemies and tragically made mad by the Rajaijah poison. Whereas he had previously saved Tintin's life, Didi now attempted to take it by cutting his head off!

Wang later arranged to have Tintin taken to him by force, but Tintin agreed to work with him against Mitsuhirato. Didi meanwhile was still crazy and would go about threatening to cut people's heads off with a sword, using a twisted version of Lao Tzu's teachings to justify his actions. Only his father's stern authority kept him in check.

Wang proved an invaluable ally to Tintin. He sent an agent to obtain the poison that had driven his son mad and the agent also sabotaged Mitsuhirato's knife and gun, saving Tintin yet again.

As an agent of the Japanese forces that then occupied parts of China, Mitsuhirato was able to arrange Tintin's capture and have him sentenced to death. Wang quickly rented a house next to the jail and had a tunnel dug to beneath Tintin's cell, thus being able to free him. With a mixture of cunning and subterfuge, they managed to get out of the city with an armoured car stolen from the Japanese.

Wang and his family were eventually captured by Mitsuhirato who decided to submit Wang and his wife to the ultimate horror: decapitation by their own son!

Tintin was also caught and he and the Wangs were about to be killed by Didi when the members of the Sons of the Dragon intervened, led by Tintin's friend Chang Chong-Chen. Impressed by Chang's daring, Wang later adopted him.

Didi soon regained his sanity thanks to an expert in madness called Professor Fan Se-Yeng (Fang Hsi-ying in the English version) who found a cure to the effects of the poison.

According to a letter sent to Tintin and an article in a newspaper (both in "Tintin in Tibet"), the adopted Chang later moved to Hong Kong, which was then a British possession. It is not clear if Chang just happened to be there for a short while or if the Wang family itself had moved into the colony. As the wealthy leader of a secret society with a luxurious house and servants, Wang Chen-Yee would not have fitted in too well with the People's Republic of China.

Wang had a brother who owned an antique shop in London and a cousin who owned a Chinese shop in Kathmandu and who also had a son called Chang.