Background
According to Japanese sources, Wan Li is a native of Szechwan and at one time studied in France.
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Wan Li
Edit Profilepolitician Vice-Mayor CCP member
Education
Indirect evidence suggests that Wan may have been a student in Peking during the mid-1930’s, a possibility implied by the fact that he was on the funeral committee for two prominent youth leaders of that era, Chang Hsi and P’eng T’ao (both alternate members of the Central Committee at the time of their death), who died in 1959 and 1961, respectively.
Career
Wan first emerged on the national scene in the spring of 1949 as the Communists were sweeping the Nationalist armies from the mainland. These armies reached Nanking, the former Nationalist capital, in late April 1949 where they established politico-military administrations, under the Nanking Military Control Commission Wan became deputy director of the Finance and Economic Takeover Committee and head of the Reconstruction Bureau under the Municipal People's Government.
The armies which had successfully captured Nanking were the same as those which later in 1949 pushed into the southwest. Apparently Wan accompanied these forces, for he was in Chungking by December 1949 serving on the newly formed preparatory committee for the Chungking General Labor Union. Tn the following year the regional administration for the southwest, known as the Southwest Military and Administrative Committee, was established with Chungking as the headquarters. Wan was named as a member of the Finance and Economics Committee (headed by Teng Hsiao-p’ing) and as deputy director of the Industry Department under Tuan Chiin-i, another specialist in building and construction work. He held these posts until November 1952 when he was posted to Peking (although he was not officially removed from the finance and economics post until September 1954).
As the Chinese economy grew more complex, a number of changes were made in the administrative machinery to handle the new problems. One such change occurred in August 1952 when a Ministry of Building was created, and three months later Wan was transferred from Chungking to become one of the vice-ministers. In the next few years the national press reported only his activity connected with this ministry. A few of the more significant occasions include: a report by Wan before a meeting of the GAC on December 3, 1953, on the work of the ministry; a speech delivered at a conference (Feb ruary-M arch 1954) of “model” PLA soldiers working in construction units in Peking; a report given before a planning and construction conference convened by the ministry in February 1955.
In April 1955, Wan received a concurrent post as director of the newly created Urban Construction General Bureau, an organization that stood just below the ministry level in the State Council structure. He held these two posts until a partial State Council reorganization in May 1956, at which time he was removed as a vice-minister of Building (where he had served under Ch’en Cheng-jen and Liu Hsiu-feng). However, at the same time he received a ministerial-level portfolio when the Urban Construction General Bureau was raised to the Ministry of Urban Construction. Tn the meantime, in October 1955, Wan had led a 10-mcmber delegation of construction experts on an inspection tour of the Soviet Union.
On a more official level, Wan has served as an NPC deputy from Peking to the Second NPC (1959-1964), and at the second through fourth sessions served as a member of the congress presidium. In 1964 he was re-elected a Peking deputy to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965.
Like so many other Chinese leaders, Wan became deeply involved in the Sino-Soviet conflict, which was at a peak in mid-1963. In June 1963, North Korean Supreme Peopled Assembly President Choi Yong Kun visited China where he received an exceptionally elaborate welcome in an obvious effort to swing the Koreans irrevocably into the Chinese orbit. On June 8, Wan spoke at a rally attended by 100,0 people, where he stressed the necessity for Sino-Korean unity in the face of U.S. “imperialism” and “modern revisionism” （the then current term of opprobrium for the Russians). Three months later, Wan spent two weeks in Korea as a member of a friendship delegation led by Liu Shao-ch’i in another obvious attempt to court the Koreans.
In the meantime, Wan was a featured speaker at an extraordinary rally held in Peking on August 6, 1963. The day before, the United States, the USSR, and Great Britain had signed the famed nuclear test ban treaty in Moscow, a move bitterly opposed by Peking. With Chou En-lai and Ch'en I on the platform, Wan made a number of hostile statements about “some so-called Communists.” So strong was the language that Soviet Ambassador Chervonenko walked out and soon after was followed by the representatives of the East European bloc nations probably the first such occasion since the Communists took power in China.
Politics
Wan attended the Eighth Party Congress in September 1956 and submitted a written speech on the theme that urban building must be closely linked with industrial construction. Little was heard of him until there was another State Council reorganization in February 1958, at which time Wan's Ministry of Urban Construction was absorbed by the Ministry of Building, leaving Wan without a post in the central government. However, within a month he was identified as a secretary of the Peking Party Committee, a post he continues to hold subordinate to First Secretary P’eng Chen and Second Secretary Liu Jen. Then, in August 1958 he was elected vice-mayor of the Peking Municipal Government, and in October 1959 was named as a vice-chairman of the Peking CPPCC. These three posts in Peking serve as a good illustration of the interlocking directorate which rules China. In the Party structure he serves under P’eng Chen and Liu Jen; in the government organization he is subordinate to P'eng Chen and, in the CPPCC apparatus he comes under the authority of Liu Jen.
Senior officials in all Chinese cities are obliged to spend a large amount of time in protocol activities, and quite naturally this is exemplified in the national capital, the site of thousands of official functions each year. Furthermore, since Peking Mayor P’eng Chen is one of the regime’s most senior officials, he inevitably becomes involved in policy-level affairs which preclude his participation in many municipal affairs of lesser import. From the numerous appearances Wan has made since 1958, it is clear that he often serves as a proxy for P'eng. Thus in addition to feting numerous foreign visitors, Wan has often been mentioned in connection with anniversary celebrations, meetings of many types, and sports events. For example, he served on the preparatory committee for celebrating the 10th anniversary of the PRC in 1959, on the presidium for a conference of “advanced producers” in October 1959, and was a speaker at a Peking municipal congress of the Young Communist League in December 1962. In the field of sports, Wan served on the preparatory committees for both the first and second national athletic meets, established in September 1958 and January 1965, respectively. He was also a member of the preparatory committee for Chinese participation in the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO), a body established in June 1963. These games were inaugurated by Indonesian President Sukarno in response to alleged hostility to Indonesia by the International Olympics Committee. The Chinese Communists gave strong support to the Indonesians on this issue and were active participants when the first games were held in 1963.
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Born
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Nationality
China -
Ethnicity
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Political Party
Chinese Communist Party
Career
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1949
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1956
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1959 - 1964