The World of Suzie Wong

Plot

Robert Lomax is a young Englishman who, after completing his National Service, goes to work on a plantation in British Malaya. During his time in Malaya, Lomax decides to pursue a new career as an artist for a year.

Lomax visits Hong Kong in search of inspiration for his paintings. He checks into the Nam Kok Hotel, not realizing at first that it is a brothel catering mainly to British and American sailors. However, this only makes the hotel more charming in Lomax's eyes, and a better source of subject matter for his paintings.

Lomax quickly befriends most of the hotel's bargirls, but is fascinated by the archetypal "hooker with a heart of gold", Suzie Wong. Wong previously introduced herself to him as Wong Mee-ling, a rich virgin whose father owns four houses and more cars than she can count, and who later pretends not to recognize him at the hotel. Lomax had originally decided that he would not have sex with any of the bargirls at the hotel because he lacks the funds to pay for their services. However, it soon emerges that Suzie Wong is interested in him not as a customer but as a serious love interest. Although Wong becomes the kept woman of two other men, and Robert Lomax briefly becomes attracted to a young British nurse, Lomax and Wong are eventually united and the novel ends happily with them marrying.

Film, TV and theatrical adaptations

The novel was adapted for the stage 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 the 1960 film, directed by Richard Quine and produced by Michael Wilding, starring William Holden, Nancy Kwan, Sylvia Syms, and Michael Wilding. Ray Stark was the Executive Producer.

In March 2006, the Hong Kong Ballet premiered a dance adaptation by Stephen Jefferies, entitled Suzie Wong.

In 2010, scenes from Stephen Jefferies’ ballet were used by director Brian Jamieson in the film biography To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey, in order to draw parallels between the screen character of Suzie Wong and the life of actress Nancy Kwan.

Sequels

In 2008, Sebastian Gerard wrote an unauthorized sequel to the novel, For Goodness Sake: the Afterlife of Suzie Wong, ISBN 978-0-615-19055-6. The book is set in 1998 Hong Kong, forty-seven years after the events in Mason's book. Gerard's novel explores the experience of Dr. Marco Podesta, a Vietnam War veteran who is in Hong Kong for research. The book is Gerard's interpretation of what might have happened after the ending of the film, which was slightly more ambiguous than the ending in Mason's novel. Gerard's novel speculates that there might have been a real Robert and Suzie who were the inspiration for the story, and that only through them could we know if such an improbable romance might have endured.

There is also an unofficial modern interpretation of the World of Suzie Wong by Leon Pang, written in 2010, titled Suzie ISBN 978-0-9566137-0-7. One of the characters in the book takes the name of Suzie Wong in an attempt to latch on to the fame of the original character. The novel explores sixty years of changes in Hong Kong, and themes include poverty, the rise of China, employment instability in the world in 2008, outsourcing, and the failings of capitalism.

Locations from the novel

The Nam Kok Hotel featured in the story is based on the Luk Kwok Hotel (Chinese: 香港六國酒店; pinyin: Xiānggǎng Liù Guó Jiǔdiàn; Jyutping: hoeng¹ gong² luk⁶ gwok³ zau² dim³) on Gloucester Road in Wan Chai, 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 brothel, but is one of many small smart hotels on Hong Kong Island.