The role of Wong Fei-hung has been played by numerous well-known stars of Hong Kong and Chinese cinema, including Gordon Liu, Jackie Chan, Kwan Tak-hing, Jet Li, Vincent Zhao, and Sammo Hung.

Wong's original given name was Sek-cheung or Xixiang (锡祥; 錫祥; Xīxiáng; Hsi-hsiang; Sek3-coeng4) before it was changed to Fei-hung (Feihong).

When he was 13, he encountered Lam Fuk-sing (林福成; Lin Fucheng), an apprentice of "Iron Bridge Three" Leung Kwan, in Douchi Street in Foshan Town.

Lam taught him how to use the sling and the essential moves of the martial art Iron Wire Fist[broken anchor].

Wong Fei-hung was very personable like his father, and made many friends in the martial arts and medical worlds, like the 10 Tigers of Guangdong.

In 1863, Wong started a martial arts school in Shuijiao (水腳) in Saikwan (Xiguan), which is the present-day location of Liwan District, Guangzhou City.

In 1886, Wong opened his family's medical clinic, Po Chi Lam (寶芝林; Baozhilin), in Ren'an (仁安), which is the present-day part of Xiaobei Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City.

[1] In legend, around the 1860s or 1870s, Wong was recruited by Liu Yongfu, the commander of the Black Flag Army, to be the medical officer and martial arts instructor for the regular soldiers and the local militia in Guangzhou.

During the chaotic early years of the Republican era, many businessmen who operated places of entertainment in Guangzhou decided to hire guards (or bouncers) to protect their businesses on-site in case trouble broke out.

[6] Between August and October 1924, Wong's medical clinic, Po Chi Lam, was destroyed when the Nationalist government was suppressing the uprising by the Guangzhou Merchant Volunteers Corps.

[1] Wong's fourth wife, Mok Kwai-lan, and his sons, along with his students Lam Sai-wing and Dang Sai-king (鄧世瓊; Deng Shiqiong), moved to Hong Kong and opened martial arts schools there.

[15] A Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall was built in 2000 and was officially opened in January 2001 in his honour in Foshan, Chancheng District.

The first alleged photo was said to have been provided by his fourth spouse Mok Kwai-lan to Leung Ting of the Real Kung Fu (真功夫) magazine in 1976.

[17] In 2005, another alleged photo of Wong Fei-hung once taken by one of his students Kwong Kei-tim (鄺祺添) was discovered by the museum staff in Hong Kong.

[18][19] His fourth spouse Mok Kwai-lan once stated that her husband was quite superstitious and believed that having photos taken of oneself would shorten one's lifespan, so Wong only had one picture of himself taken in his lifetime, namely the one taken by his student Kwong.