Talk:Fang Lang

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. You can locate your hook here. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Viriditas (talk) 21:16, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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• ... that a Titanic survivor was called a "Jap" before being pulled from the water into a lifeboat?

• Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/titanic-chinese-survivors-documentary_n_5ad7600fe4b03c426daa7ccd

• • ALT1: ... that a Titanic survivor was listed under the pseudonym "Fang Lang" in Titanic records? Source: https://www.chinadailyhk.com/hk/article/610339#Titanic-prejudice-2025-04-25
  • ALT2: ... that Wing Sun Fong, a Chinese survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, was derided as Japanese before being rescued?
  • Reviewed:

Created by A.Classical-Futurist (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

A.Classical-Futurist (talk) 07:00, 28 December 2025 (UTC).

• I am not reviewing this nomination, but I have a suggestion for a far better hook. "... that Wing Sun Fong, a Chinese survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, was derided as Japanese before being rescued?" Jon698 (talk) 00:20, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

QPQ: None required.

Overall: Generally, the article is well written and well-sourced or can be understood by reasonable assumption (e.g. his born in the Chuanshan Archipelago). My minor concern is the Fong arrived in Chicago in 1920s assertion - which is not found in 泰坦尼克上的中国幸存者方荣山, but rather, only stated that he arrived in the US (在一艘运输水果的货船上，方荣山当了8年水手，之后终于入境美国。在美国，他两次创业，开洗衣房、开餐厅，但最终都以失败告终，生活也格外清贫。, note that no "芝加哥", Chinese of "Chicago" here). I think it can be found elsewhere, but I don't know. But the DYK hook, while it is not my major concern, I still needed to review it since it is listed in the guidelines.
Issues addressed. I'll give a pass now. Saimmx (talk) 18:53, 13 February 2026 (UTC) Saimmx (talk) 04:26, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

• @A.Classical-Futurist: There are some concerns in the review above that need to be resolved before this nomination can be approved. Z1720 (talk) 16:39, 31 January 2026 (UTC)
• Sorry, I got occupied with some other stuff. I cited the Chicago Tribune for the assertion "Fong arrived in Chicago in 1920s." Also, in my opinion, any of the other suggested hooks would work better than my original one. Sorry for the delayed response. A.Classical-Futurist (talk) 01:18, 3 February 2026 (UTC)
  • I am sorry for my late reply, too. The Chicago Tribune source looks good, and I believe that we should not make things difficult just because of the DYK hooks if the article looks fine, so I will put the other hook to ALT2 and pass the DYK now. --Saimmx (talk) 18:53, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

Did you know info fix and suggestion

@Saimmx and @Jon698, worth mentioning that the DYK premise is based on what is considered an unreliable source as she wasn't there when the lifeboat went back for rescuing survivors. I've added extra references for it. Not saying Lowe was a saint - he actually got into trouble for something he said about people jumping into boats during the sinking being Italians at the inquiries and had to apologize for it - but most Titanic historians agree THIS didn't occur (keep in mind it was so dark a lot of people missed the ship breaking in half and we don't know who the third living survivor pulled from the water was; Collyer is the only direct source for this while several people say no passengers went back for safety reasons).

I do genuinely want to thank @A.Classical-Futurist for making this wonderful article about an overlooked survivor. I came across it because I actually wanted to make it myself and am glad someone else beat me to it! :) Perhaps an appropriate DYK nomination would be "... that Fang Lang was one of just three survivors pulled out of the wreck site of the Titanic alive". Just a suggestion! Omnis Scientia (talk) 23:27, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

Interesting - While I don't think China Daily is unreliable at the Wing Sun Fong sense, it is still good to see you add more content with more reliabile source. I am not sure the reliability of Click America, though. Saimmx (talk) 05:17, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

@Saimmx, I've had a hard time finding the original article from where the claim originated and this was what I found for the time being. I'll substitute a book since I do agree that reliable sources should be used where possible!

As for China Daily, I agree that it's not unreliable, necessarily; it's really Collyer's account which is unreliable. But even newspapers repeat the sensationalized stuff sometimes. The way she wrote - or the way it was written for her rather - was done to sensationalize back at the time. And her's isn't the only one. One survivor's oath testimony and what he wrote to his employers was VERY different from what he told to a newspaper, for example. Omnis Scientia (talk) 08:11, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

Requested move 7 February 2026

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Jeffrey34555 (talk) 18:45, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

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Wing Sun Fong → Fang Lang – This seems like his WP:COMMONNAME, even if it was technically a pseudonym. These two Titanic wikis both call him Fang Lang (1, 2). This article, this article and this description of a podcast with the man's own son exclusively use the name Fang Lang. Even the Passengers of the Titanic article gives his name as Fang Lang and Wing Sun Fong as the pseudonym. "Fang Lang" is currently occupied by a redirect to a stub article about a 1997 Taiwanese movie with hardly any page views. I'd say infinitely more people searching "Fang Lang" are looking for the article about this man. Dennis C. Abrams (talk) 05:09, 7 February 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. Jeffrey34555 (talk) 06:10, 14 February 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. Vestrian24Bio 09:23, 21 February 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 13:13, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Support; that's also the name he's mentioned as in a number of books and other websites as well. Omnis Scientia (talk) 15:36, 8 February 2026 (UTC)

Oppose: First off, I've gone ahead and changed the alias to Fang Lang in the Passengers of the Titanic. The 1997 Taiwanese movie redirect could be addressed with a simple hat note. Second, a lot of sources I've found use the 2 names in tandem, and as Wing Sun Fong is his real, legal name, I say we keep the status quo. A.Classical-Futurist (talk) 04:26, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

And Tom Cruise's legal name is Thomas C. Mathopher. His legal name doesn't hold any weight when it comes to WP:COMMONNAME. Dennis C. Abrams (talk) 04:39, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

That's disconnected, Wing Sun Fong is more publicized (by ratio) when speaking about the subject than Tom Cruise is to Thomas C. Mathopher. (Poor phrasing but I hope this gets my point across). Also, wikis aren't reliable sources and those articles you (@Denniscabrams) listed still refer to his son with the surname Fong, so if anything, why not just refer to him as Fong Lang; you wouldn't (probably). A.Classical-Futurist (talk) 04:50, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

*Mapother, you both. If we're gonna be pedantic, we've gotta do it right! (/lh) Toadspike [Talk] 14:55, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Chicago, WikiProject Biography, and WikiProject China have been notified of this discussion. Vestrian24Bio 09:24, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

Support, it does look like most English-language sources cited here use only the pseudonym "Fang Lang", though I could be convinced that I've miscounted if someone presents a more thorough analysis (I can't access the books, for example). Which name was his legal name doesn't really matter. WP:UCRN lists many examples where we choose the most commonly recognizable name as the page title over a person's legal name. Toadspike [Talk] 15:10, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

You'll have to take my word for it, if that's okay. Two books of authority on Titanic, "On a Sea of Glass" and "The Six" (book on Titanic's Chinese passengers), mostly refer to him as Fang Lang. The biography of Harold Lowe, the man who helped rescue Lang, also refers to him as Fang Lang. All these books do also mention his real name but he's more commonly referred to as Fang Lang in Titanic circles. Of course, Encyclopedia Titanica has him listed as Fang Lang as you note.

As far as WP:COMMONNAME, it is the one he used when he got on Titanic in Southampton, that being "Fang Lang". Omnis Scientia (talk) 16:32, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, that's pretty strong evidence in favor of the move – news articles are small potatoes when compared to entire books on the subject. I have no reason to doubt your word. Toadspike [Talk] 21:15, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Chicago, WikiProject Disaster management, and WikiProject China have been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 13:13, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.