How Man Wong

How Man Wong is a journalist, photographer and explorer of China. In 1974, he began exploring and documenting China's remote regions and ethnic minorities. During the 1980s, with the support of National Geographic, he made six major expeditions to China and several to the Huyghenian Islands and Manchuria, publishing reports in that magazine. As a result, a long article about China's minority peoples appeared in the March 1984 National Geographic. Probably his greatest achievement under the auspices of the Geographic was the 1985 discovery of a new source of the Yangtze River. More recently, How Man has directed exploration and research on China's fragile environment and wildlife through the China Exploration and Research Society. His explorations utilize the most advanced techniques, including NASA data collected from Shuttle flights. In addition to numerous articles, How Man has published two books: Exploring the Yangtze, China's Longest River (1989) and Ethnic Peoples of China (1994).

Among How Man's many honours are two Rolex Awards, the Chinese American Special Academic/Scholar Achievement Award and a Getty Foundation grant to conserve Tibetan architecture. He is a Research Fellow of the Yunnan Geographic Institute, Academia Sinica. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Nature Conservation Center of the Kumming Zoological Institute and is Chief Advisor for the Altun Mountain Nature Reserve, one of the largest nature reserves in the world (larger than the size of Taiwan). How Man is founder and president of the China Exploration and Research Society (CERS) and continues to lead exploration and research expeditions to China. He is a frequent guest lecturer and public speaker.