Wong was dedicated to fighting for the equal rights of Chinese-Americans at the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

[1][2][3] Nowadays, some consider Wong to be similar to Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi because of his efforts to defend Chinese-Americans' rights in his era.

[4][opinion] Wong was born in 1847 on Jimo city to a merchant well off family[5] In 1861, he was taken in by a missionary couple, and was baptized into the Baptist faith and came to the United States in 1867.

"[8] In 1871, Wong married Liu Yu San who was a student at Eliza Jewett Hartwell's mission school in Nanyang city.

[8] In his spare time, he advocated to set up a civic improvement organization for spiritual and moral uplift, also for social and economic changes as well as for political reform.

Wong brought a Chinese theater in New York, established a language school and briefly opened a Confucian temple.

"[18] Wong organized a group of Americans with a vested interest in the Chinese goals who were unlikely to make their voices heard in Congress.

On January 26, 1893, Wong testified in front of a committee of the Congress as the president of the Chinese Equal Rights League.

Three months after the hearing, Secretary of the Treasury Carlisle approved modifications to the government's procedures for enforcing the Geary Act.

[26] He ultimately sought to acquire political privileges such as citizenship and voting rights for the pre-existing Chinese Americans.

[27][28] Prior to this essay, it was common for Wong Chin Foo to endorse Confucianism and point out his critiques of Protestant missionaries.

[28] This essay marked a transformation from his previous, more conciliatory stance, and it prompted a number of responses, including "Why I Am Not a Heathen", written by his fellow Chinese immigrant Yan Phou Lee, a devout Christian.

[31][32] Over the course of Wong's lecturing career, he had increasingly spoke out about his qualms with Christianity, alienating a substantial group of Chinese Americans.

[30] At this time, nearly all Chinese immigrants in America came from rural counties of the Guangdong province, located in southern China.

Coming from the north, which had a reputation of education and wealth, and speaking a distinct dialect from the southerners, Wong Chin Foo encountered additional difficulties garnering the support from the Chinese immigrant community.