The World of Suzie Wong

Infobox Book |
name = The World of Suzie Wong
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Richard Mason
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Collins
release_date = 1957
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 383 pp
isbn = N/A
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The World of Suzie Wong" is a 1957 novel written by Richard Mason, which has been adapted into a play, a hit film, and a ballet.

Plot introduction

The book is about a young Englishman, Robert Lomax, who has just decided to pursue a new career as an artist. He visits Hong Kong in search of inspiration for his paintings where he checks into the Nam Kok Hotel, not realizing, at first, that it is an unofficial brothel catering mainly to British and American sailors. However, the discovery of that fact only makes the hotel more charming in Lomax's opinion and a better source of subject matter for his paintings. He quickly befriends most of the hotel's bargirls but is most fascinated by the archetypal "hooker with a heart of gold", Suzie Wong, who had previously introduced herself to him as Wong Mee-ling, a rich virgin whose father had five houses and more cars than she could count, and initially pretended not to recognize him at the hotel. Lomax had originally decided that he would not sleep with any of the bargirls at the hotel because he would be living with them for a long time and did not want to put a strain on their relationships. However, it soon emerges that Suzie Wong is interested in him, not as a customer but as a serious boyfriend. Although Suzie Wong becomes the kept woman of two other men and Robert Lomax becomes attracted to a young female British nurse, Lomax and Wong are eventually reunited and the novel ends happily.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The novel was first adapted into a stage production and was first produced in 1958 by David Merrick and starred William Shatner and France Nuyen. Tsai Chin played the title role in the West End 1959 production.The book was later adapted into a hit 1960 film, directed by Richard Quine and starring William Holden, Nancy Kwan, Sylvia Syms, and Michael Wilding.

In March 2006 a new dance version by Stephen Jefferies, entitled "Suzie Wong", was premiered by the Hong Kong Ballet.

Accusations of Racism

"The World of Suzie Wong" has been accused of creating and reinforcing negative stereotypes of East Asian women, particularly as it is set in a brothel. However, a major theme of the book is racism and the hypocrisy of the colonial-era attitudes of Europeans and Americans towards Asians.

Several scenes in the film adaptation point out the double standard and criticize the attitude of Europeans that regards Asians as mere playthings and not human beings with real feelings and rights. However, only Asian females are featured in prominent roles — the male roles are almost exclusively European, with the hotel receptionist being the only Asian male with any significant (and fairly one-dimensional) lines.

Locations from the book

The Nam Kok Hotel featured in the story is based on the Luk Kwok Hotel on Gloucester Road in Wanchai, where Mason stayed, although the building is now more modern, the site having been redeveloped in the 1980s. Also, unlike the hotel in the book, the modern hotel is not a pseudo-brothel but is one of many smaller smart hotels on Hong Kong Island.

Visitors today should travel one or two streets further south to Lockhart Road and Jaffe Road for today's versions of similar establishments to the one in the story. The area is sometimes known as "the Suzie Wong district" today,Fact|date=September 2008 and over the years, some local nightclubs have used the name "Suzie Wong Club". However the book stresses that Suzie is driven into prostitution by poverty; with better economic opportunities now available to local women, most of today's bargirls in Wanchai are recruited from poorer countries, mainly Thailand and the Philippines.

ee also

* Prostitution in Hong Kong