Wong Yuk-man

Raymond Wong Yuk-man (born 1 October 1951) is a Hong Kong author, current affairs commentator and radio host.

He is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), representing the geographical constituency of Kowloon West.

He worked in Commercial Radio Hong Kong and hosted many popular phone-in programmes.

Wong was born on 1 October 1951 in British Hong Kong with family roots in Lufeng, Guangdong.

Wong's father was a close friend of Heung Chin, a general of Nationalist Party of China and founder of the Sun Yee On, one of the leading triads in Hong Kong.

He was under the patronage of the Heung family and was sent abroad to study in Taiwan.

After he graduated from the Taiwan-affiliated Chu Hai College with a master's degree in history, Wong worked as a journalist and taught at Chu Hai College.

He first made his name in the early 1990s when he co-hosted Asia Television's controversial and hugely popular political commentary programme News Tease.

In 1990, Wong used his entire savings - HK$500,000 - to launch News File magazine, but it closed down within two years and left him heavily in debt.

He savaged pro-Beijing politicians until the show was axed after 64 episodes in 1994, allegedly under pressure from the mainland authorities.

Also, He is a founder and chairman of Mad Dog Daily from 1996 until its closure in 2022.

He was the head of Department in the Faculty of Communication and Journalism of Chu Hai College in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, from which he also holds a Master's degree in history.

He is a populist and a former chairman of the League of Social Democrats (LSD).

He is known for his outspoken manner, harsh criticism of the Chinese Government, and ferocious speeches in defence of the rights of the lower classes; consequently, he has been given the nicknames Mad Dog and "Rogue Professor".

On 18 March 1996, he established Mad Dog Daily, a tabloid with a clear "Anti-communism" and "Anti-Tung" stance.

However, the paper suffered from a low sales volume, which Wong jokingly blamed on its "journalistic integrity" and refusal to participate in sensationalist journalism.

After the Asian financial crisis, it transformed into a magazine in October 1997, and then was suspended shortly afterwards.

As a result, Wong had to bear debts that amounted to a total of 15 million HKD.

He repaid this debt in a matter of years by working on talk shows and other TV programmes.

In 2000, Wong established "CyberHK", an IT company that was also unsuccessful, falling victim to the dot-com bubble of 2001 and putting Wong into debt again.

To settle the debts, Wong concentrated on his radio talk shows, writing articles for newspapers, and running his beef noodle restaurant.

His popularity hit a peak by hosting two weekly shows for Commercial Radio Hong Kong; had three weekly slots on Radio Television Hong Kong, both on television and radio; and appeared on prime-time TV at least once a week.

In 2003, Wong converted to Christianity during the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong.

He was attracted to liberation theology after his contact with the least-privileged in society during the crisis.

He was active in mobilising support for the Hong Kong 1 July marches.

In 2004, he took a sabbatical from his talk show "Close Encounters of a Political Kind", after being beaten up by gangsters allegedly paid by the Chinese Government, citing "political pressure".

Following a self-imposed three-month exile in Canada, he returned to Hong Kong where he was sacked from his weeknight political phone-in radio programme, and moved to a late Saturday night slot (with significantly fewer listeners).

In less than a year, the programme was cancelled and Wong was effectively and controversially taken off-air.

This event was significant for Hong Kong as it meant that there was no longer any outspoken and critical radio talk show host on any Hong Kong radio station.

During his time off-air, he continued to run his beef noodle restaurant in Mongkok.

In 2006, he co-founded the League of Social Democrats, a self-described social democratic political party which aimed to be a "clear-cut opposition party" and defend the interests of the grassroots.

He currently hosts "Wong Yuk-man Channel," a popular radio programme on MyRadio, which is a Hong Kong-based internet radio station founded in 2007, and as well as Proletariat Political Institute.

In 2007, he made a comeback to phone-in radio talk show, hosting a weekly political radio programme "Wong Yuk-man Channel" on MyRadio.

The show quickly gained popularity and some videos of his broadcasts – captured by a studio camera and uploaded to YouTube – have become some of the most-watched videos in Hong Kong.

"Wong Yuk-man Channel" has subsequently become a twice-weekly radio programme, now extended from one hour to 1½ hours.

Wong Yuk-man refused to co-operate with the other pan-democratic parties Democratic Party and the Civic Party and strongly criticised the two parties for nominating Alan Leong as Chief Executive candidate in the 2007 election, saying that they are not qualified as democrats.

In 2008, he was appointed a trustee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In the 2008 Hong Kong Legislative election, he ran in the Kowloon West constituency on a platform of "Without struggle there is no change".

During the campaign he lambasted the Civic Party's Claudia Mo Man-ching in the same way he did the candidates from the pro-Beijing, pro-government flagship party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), accusing the Civic Party of applying double standards in its fight for democracy, and being elitist.

Wong ultimately gained a seat in the Legislative Council with the second highest number of votes in his constituency.