Wing Sun Fong (listed as "Fang Lang") was born in Taishan in Guangdong Province in Imperial China on 21 June 1894.

He was travelling to New York City with eight colleagues from the Donald Line's Anetta. He was a fireman.

While it has been alleged that some or all were stowaways on the Titanic, in fact, all eight boarded the Titanic at Southampton as fare-paying third class passengers, albeit the fare was probably paid by the Donald Line. Lee Bing, Chang Chip, Choong Foo, Ling Hee, Ah Lam, Len Lam, Fang Lang and Lee Ling travelled together on the same ticket (ticket number 1601, £56 9s 11d).

"Fang Lang" was rescued, picked up from the sea apparently clinging to a wooden door although the identity of the person picked up is not firmly established.

After arrival in America aboard the Carpathia the Chinese survivors were transferred to the Donald Line's Annetta, and departed for Cuba on 20 April¹. 

It appears he spent the next few years working aboard ships in the Caribbean but with the outbreak of WWI he resettled in Europe and worked on ships operating out of Le Havre in France. 

Fong lawfully entered the USA as an immigrant on 15 September 1920 and settled in the Chicago area, attempting to establish himself as a merchant before launching a laundry service. After a time he relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he worked as a waiter at Lotus, a Chinese restaurant located on 3rd Street. In June 1956 he became a US citizen and was described as a waiter standing at 5’ 6” and having black hair, brown eyes, a “yellow” complexion and weighing 147 lbs. 

Wing returned to Asia in the 1950s and was married in Hong Kong on 6 February 1957 to a much younger woman, Ah Fon Tom (b. 15 July 1933), similarly a native of Guangdong Province who in America became known as Marie. Husband and wife returned to the USA in February 1959 and their son Tom was born on 12 December that year. Wing and his wife later divorced in 1966. 

Chinaman's Wife Receives Divorce

MILWAUKEE. Wis. (UPI) — Mrs. Marie Fong, 32, wanted a divorce. She said her husband, Wing Sun Fong, 72, made her sleep on the floor, gave her almost no social life and relegated her to "the status of a housekeeper." Mr. Fong said it was the Chinese way. The judge said this is America and granted the divorce. — The Post-Journal, 23 June 1966

Following his divorce Fong returned to Chicago where his younger brother operated the Quon Yick bakery, making his home at W. Cermak Road in the Chinatown area of the city. Active in local civic and political matters, he became a well-known fixture in Chicago’s Chinese community where he also had many relatives. 

Wing Sun Fong died aged 91 in the Chinatown area of Chicago on 21 January 1986 and was buried in Mt Auburn Cemetery under a modest metal plaque which bears his name and place of birth, written in Chinese. His former wife Marie was still alive as of 2021 whilst his son Tom still lives in Janesville, Wisconsin. 

In his later life Wing Sun Fong did not openly discuss the topic of the Titanic with his American family and his own son was not aware that he had been on the ship, despite a childhood memory of a relative telling him that his father had lived through a shipwreck and survived by clinging to wreckage. It was close to two decades after his passing that Fong’s son Tom, whilst entertaining family from Hong Kong at a Titanic attraction in Wisconsin, was again informed by a cousin that his father had been on the ship and survived. Incredulous at first, Tom was quick to browse the internet and found information about the Chinese passengers, with one name leaping out, despite differences in English spelling—Fang Lang. Tom ascertained that “Fang Lang” had perhaps been the Chinese man rescued by the occupants of lifeboat 14, found floating aboard a door or sideboard and hauled aboard the lifeboat and revived.