[4] At the time of Chong's birth, another major right of abode case had already been set in motion, and would eventually reach the CFA as Ng Ka Ling v. Director of Immigration.

Following the unfavourable ruling for the Director of Immigration in that case, the Chief executive of Hong Kong (then Tung Chee Hwa) sought and on 26 June 1999 obtained an interpretation of Articles 22(4) and 24(2)(3) of the Basic Law from the NPCSC.

[2] Chong filed suit against the Director of Immigration in the Court of First Instance, claiming to be a permanent resident with the right of abode under BL 24(2)(1).

[5] On 24 December 1999, Judge Frank Stock of the CFI ruled in Chong's favour, stating that the provision of the IO in question derogated from his rights under BL 24(2)(1).

[1] The Director of Immigration appealed to the Court of Appeal, where on 27 July 2000 Vice-President Simon Mayo and Justices Arthur Leong and Anthony Rogers also ruled in Chong's favour, affirming the lower court's decision regarding the language of BL 24(2)(1) and additionally stating that the NPCSC interpretation did not address BL 24(2)(1) and thus had no effect on it.

[1] Chong was one of three CFA cases relating to the right of abode that year, the other two being Fateh Muhammad v. Commissioner of Registration (which ruled that a foreign national's seven years of "ordinary residence" qualifying him to apply for permanent residence must immediately precede his application, thus disqualifying a Pakistani migrant who resided in Hong Kong since the 1960s but had recently served a four-year prison sentence), and Tam Nga Yin v. Director of Immigration (which ruled that mainland-born children adopted by Hong Kong parents did not thus gain the right of abode).

[9] Acting Secretary for Security Timothy Tong was quoted as stating that the Immigration Department would take steps to tackle the problem of mainland women entering Hong Kong illegally, which was expected to worsen as a result of the ruling.

[11] Chong himself settled in Hong Kong, living with his paternal grandmother and grandfather, while his younger sister remained in Shanwei.

In an interview in 2011, Chong, by then 14 and a Form 1 student in Tuen Mun, described being affected by internet users' taunts of him as a "locust" and a "criminal"; however, he was still comfortable revealing his background to people around him, including his classmates.

A literal reading of the law supported the contention that Chong Fung Yuen was entitled to the right of abode in Hong Kong.

Thomas E. Kellogg of Yale Law School sees this as an attempt to avoid political controversy, which aided in preserving the so-called "two-part referral test" established in Ng.