Wong How Man

Wong has authored over two dozen books. Among these, From Manchuria to Tibet won the prestigious Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold Award in 1999. His book Islamic Frontiers of China (Documentary). Discovery Channel. Retrieved April 28, 2020. was published in the UK in 1990, with a new and expanded edition in 2011. Wong has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin in River Falls, Lifetime Achievement Award from Monk Hsing Yun. He is often invited as keynote speaker on important international lecture circuits for institutions, universities, corporations, both and select groups of audience.

Wong lived in the United States until 1994 before moving back to Hong Kong.

In 1986, Wong founded the China Exploration & Research Society] (CERS), first in the United States and later moved to Hong Kong, a preeminent nonprofit organization specializing in exploration, research, conservation and education in remote China and periphery countries like Myanmar, Laos, Bhutan and the Philippines.

Wong led six major expeditions for the National Geographic magazine. His writing for the National Geographic was nominated for the Overseas Press Club Award of America. In his 1985 National Geographic expedition, Wong led a team that found a new source of the Yangtze River and documented this expedition in his 1989 book, Exploring the Yangtze: China's Longest River. During this expedition he came across the hanging coffins and developed a long life obsession with this particular historical custom, which later became the topic of an award-winning documentary by Discovery Channel. Twenty years later, Wong discovered a yet longer source. In 2004, Discovery Channel also made an hour-long documentary 'Crossings' about Wong's upbringing and subsequent exploration career. Subsequently, Wong led CERS expeditions that pinpointed the source of the Mekong in 2007 and discovered a new source for the Yellow River in 2008. In 2011, his team defined the source of the Salween River, followed by that for the Irrawaddy in 2017, and the Brahmaputra in 2018.

In 1982, Wong became an explorer with National Geographic Society, until 1986.

In 1974, Wong began exploring China as a journalist.

Wong How Man (born 1949) is a Chinese explorer, writer and photojournalist from Hong Kong. Wong is the founder and President of the China Exploration & Research Society (CERS). In 2002, Time Magazine honored Wong as one of their 25 Asian Heroes, calling him 'China's most accomplished living explorer.'