Background
Nothing is known about his background.
politician governor of Tsinghai
Nothing is known about his background.
He was educated locally.
In 1947 he transferred to Shih-chia-chuang, the junction on the Pinghan line that connects with the rail line running westward to Taiyuan, the capital of Shansi. Shih-chia-chuang was the first important city in north China to be captured by the Communists in the civil war with the Nationalists (November 1947). Wang served there as vice-mayor in 1947-48 under Mayor K’o Ch’ing-shih, later a member of the Party Politburo. In the latter part of 1948 Wang was reported to be working with units of the North China Field Army (led by Nieh Jung-chen), which fought against Fu Tso-i along the Pingsui (Peking-Paotow) Railway.
Sometime about 1949, Wang apparently transferred from the North China Field Army to the First Field Army, which was fighting in the northwest under P’eng Te-huai. In any event, he represented this army at the first session of the First CPPCC, which met in September 1949, at which time the PRC was formally established (October 1). Virtually all the men who attended the First CPPCC received high positions in the central or provincial administrations. Wang was an exception. However, it seems likely (although his activity was not publicly reported) that he was working in some field of security, possibly in the northwest where the First Field Army was headquartered. This assumption is drawn from the fact that Wang was named as a vice-minister of Public Security in October 1954, a post he would be unlikely to receive without having had previous experience in the field. Wang held this position for nearly seven years, serving under Lo Jui-ch’ing, China’s top public security specialist until 1959 and thereafter under Hsieh Fu-chih.
In July 1961, Wang was relieved as a vice-minister of Public Security. This action was soon clarified when he appeared in Tsinghai as the acting first Secretary (by October 1961) of the provincial Party committee. He was sent to Tsinghai to replace First Secretary Kao Feng, who had apparently run into political problems. This transfer to the northwest may have been viewed initially as a trouble-shooting role, but it has subsequently developed into a permanent assignment. Wang served as the acting secretary over the 1961-62 winter, but by April 1962 he was replaced by Yang Chih-lin. From that time Wang has been the second secretary of the Tsinghai Party Committee under Yang. In about mid-1962 Wang assumed the acting governorship of the province, serving in place of Yuan Jen-yuan who had been transferred away from the province. He remained as the acting governor until the Tsinghai Provincial People’s Council held a session in December 1963, at which time Wang was formally elected as the governor, a post he continues to hold.
Since his transfer to Tsinghai, Wang has been reported in the press with regularity, usually in Sining, the provincial capital. He has most frequently been mentioned in connection with the affairs of the provincial government, often making reports before government organizations on agricultural production and related subjects. In the fall of 1964 he was elected as a deputy from Tsinghai to the Third NPC. Wang spoke about the achievements in animal husbandry in Tsinghai before the first session of the Congress (on January 2, 1965). Wang, a Han Chinese, was also appointed at this time to membership on the NPC Nationalities Committee, the important committee dealing with minority affairs. Tsinghai province has one of the largest densities of minority peoples, with over 40 per cent of the population consisting of Tibetans, Mongols, and Kazakhs. The assignment of a veteran security official such as Wang to the Nationalities Committee can be regarded as a watchdog role in view of the persistent resistance by minority nationalities to rule by Han Chinese.
The next phase of Wang’s career seems out of character for a security official. He has had rather close connections with the large-scale athletic program vigorously supported by Peking since the Communists came to power in 1949, and his two trips abroad have been connected with sports events. The first was in June-July 1955 when he accompanied Hsiao K’o and Ts’ai Shu-fan to Prague for the First Czech National Spartakiade. The second trip was to East Germany in July-August 1956 as a member of a delegation led by Ts’ai Shu-fan to attend a sports festival. On the latter occasion Wang was identified as the chairman of the Sports Association under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security. He was also a member of the All-China Athletic Federation from 1956 to 1964 and participated in the year-long preparations for the First National Athletic Meet held in the capital in September 1959. As with most security officials, there is a paucity of information related to his primary work.
One of the few times that Wang was mentioned in this regard occurred in April 1956 when he made the opening speech before a national conference of “model people’s police.” More pertinent to his special field was his appointment in January 1959 to head the Public Security Institute in Peking, a post previously held by the then minister of Public Security, Lo Jui-ch’ing. Rather loosely related to security work was his election in August 1958 to the Third National Council of the Political Science and Law Association of China, a position he held until the Fourth Council was elected in October 1964.
