[1] He developed a passion for films through the works of Wong Kar-wai, Stanley Kubrick, and Akira Kurosawa, but did not intend to pursue a film-related career.

[5] Wong graduated from university with a master's degree in library and information science,[6] during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which initially led him to seek a stable job.

[5] He worked as a property manager, assistant librarian, and archivist for the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

[5] He later befriended the founder of Hong Kong Cinemagic, an English-French bilingual film news website and database, who was impressed by Wong's blogs and invited him to contribute to the site.

[9] Wong explained that he aimed to research films from non-traditional perspectives rather than solely from a textual analysis;[2] while scholar Tong Ching-siu [zh] recognized Wong as one of only five writers in Hong Kong who researched and wrote on international film history.