Wong was born on November 14, 1972, in Washington, D.C.[1] He grew up in Alexandria, Virginia.

Wong holds a BA (summa cum laude) in English literature from the University of Virginia (1994), a joint MA in journalism and a MA in international and area studies from the University of California, Berkeley (1999).

For four years he worked on the Metro, Sports, Business and Foreign desks.

Wong has taught international reporting as a visiting professor at Princeton University and UC Berkeley.

[2][4] He was a member of the NYT team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.