Wang Ho-shou

1908

Hopeh, China

Almost immediately upon returning to China he must have been sent to work in Manchuria, for in 1929 he was identified as director of the propaganda department of the Manchurian CCP Committee. The extent of his work in Manchuria has not been reported and may not have been particularly effective, for at the time considerable rivalry existed between those Communists in Manchuria who were Manchurian-born Chinese or Koreans (and who were working under the direction of a branch of the Korean Communist Party centering its activity about Harbin) and those members of the CCP sent into Manchuria from China proper. In 1931 Wang was reported to have been working under Liu Shao-ch'i. It is not clear where Wang was working, but it was probably in Shanghai. At least by 1936 Liu was in Peking working among university students, many of whom were becoming aggressively anti-Japanese. Wang was known to have been in underground work in the 1930's and 1940's and to have been arrested three times by the Nationalists. As most of his early career was spent in north China or Manchuria, he must have come into contact with Liu Shao-ch’i at one time or another. In early 1946 Wang was in Yenan serving as director of the Cadres Section of the Organization Department of the CCP. However, by May of that year he returned to Manchuria where he assumed the post of political commissar of the Heilungkiang Military District (HMD), two years later (1948) he was given the concurrent post of commander of the HMD. It was also in 1948 that he was identified as secretary-general of the Northeast Bureau of the CCP and as an executive committee member of the Northeast Branch of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association. In addition, during the late forties he served as the Party secretary of Heilungkiang and as a secretary of the Northeast Party Bureau. The Communists established their provincial and regional governments in Manchuria earlier than in China proper where they did not take over the whole of the mainland until early 1950. Thus they established the Northeast Administrative Committee (NEAC) as a regional administration for Manchuria in 1946, and in August 1949 they reorganized it into the Northeast People’s Government (NEPG). During the years 1949 to 1952 Wang served under both administrations where he was director of the Heavy Industry Department, first for the NEAC, and subsequently for the NEPG. (The department name was changed to “Industry Department” in 1950's) During the years from i 949 to 1952 he was concurrently a member of both the Finance and Economics Committee and the Higher Education Committee of the Northeast administration. In August 1952 Wang was transferred to Peking to head the Ministry of Heavy Industry. He succeeded Li Fu-ch'un, but when he took over the Ministry it was reorganized and sections of it were transferred to two newly created industrial ministries, the First and Second Ministries of Machine Building. This narrowed the scope of Wang’s jursidiction by comparison with the work that Li had directed before him, but at the same time the growing expansion of industry placed greater pressure on the branches of the government dealing with industrial development. Apparently Wang's work in highly industrialized Manchuria (where Li Fu-ch'un had earlier worked) paved the way for the Peking assignment. No sooner had he arrived in Peking than he was selected to be a member of the delegation led by Premier Chou En-lai in August-September 1952 to Moscow, where they negotiated the return of the Chinese Changchun Railway to China and the extension of the joint use of naval facilities at Port Arthur. As head of the highly important Ministry of Heavy Industry, Wang was called upon to speak before conferences and give periodic reports to government bodies. For example, in November 1952 he spoke before a conference of personnel from factories and mines engaged in heavy industry work, and in June 1953 he delivered a report before the Government Administration Council (the cabinet) on the heavy industry tasks for 1953. In September 1954, at the first session of the First NPC, Wang was reappointed as minister of Heavy Industry, but then in May 1956 the ministry was abolished, with its functions allotted to three new minivStries: Building Materials, Chemical Industry, and Metallurgical Industry. Wang was named to the last, a portfolio he was to hold for over eight years. At the same time he replaced Po I-po as chairman of the State Construction Commission, thus receiving two ministerial-level positions, a fairly unusual situation. This lasted nearly two years until February 1958 when the Commission was abolished and its functions assumed by the State Planning and State Economic Commissions. At the Eighth National Party Congress in September 1956, Wang addressed the delegates on the development of China's iron and steel industry, and at the close of the congress was elected an alternate member of the Party Central Committee. In December 1963 he led a government delegation to North Vietnam to attend the opening ceremonies of a new blast furnace. However, in July 1964 he was replaced as minister of Metallurgical Industry by Lii Tung, who had served as his deputy both in Manchuria and in Peking for 15 years. Two months later Wang was elected a deputy from Liaoning to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965. (As already noted, he had been a Hopeh deputy to the Second NPC.) Wang’s election as a Liaoning deputy to the NPC foreshadowed a new appointment in that province, by July 1965 he was identified as the first secretary of the Anshan Party Committee. Because Anshan is a major steel center, Wang’s long experience in the Metallurgical Industry Ministry can probably be put to good use. However, for a man who held a ministerial post and who serves as an alternate Central Committee member, this assignment to a secretaryship at the municipal level appears to be anticlimactic and suggests that in some way he fell into political disfavor in the 1960’s.

Wang Ho-shou

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politician alternate member CCP member

Background

He was a native Hopeh.

Education

Wang Ho-shou received the first part of his university training at the T'ang-shan College of Civil Engineering in his native Hopeh (the principal engineering school in north China) before going to Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow for further study. He is reported to have graduated from Sun Yat-sen (presumably in the late 1920's), and at about the same time to have joined the CCP.

Career

Almost immediately upon returning to China he must have been sent to work in Manchuria, for in 1929 he was identified as director of the propaganda department of the Manchurian CCP Committee. The extent of his work in Manchuria has not been reported and may not have been particularly effective, for at the time considerable rivalry existed between those Communists in Manchuria who were Manchurian-born Chinese or Koreans (and who were working under the direction of a branch of the Korean Communist Party centering its activity about Harbin) and those members of the CCP sent into Manchuria from China proper. In 1931 Wang was reported to have been working under Liu Shao-ch'i. It is not clear where Wang was working, but it was probably in Shanghai. At least by 1936 Liu was in Peking working among university students, many of whom were becoming aggressively anti-Japanese. Wang was known to have been in underground work in the 1930's and 1940's and to have been arrested three times by the Nationalists. As most of his early career was spent in north China or Manchuria, he must have come into contact with Liu Shao-ch’i at one time or another.

In early 1946 Wang was in Yenan serving as director of the Cadres Section of the Organization Department of the CCP. However, by May of that year he returned to Manchuria where he assumed the post of political commissar of the Heilungkiang Military District (HMD), two years later (1948) he was given the concurrent post of commander of the HMD. It was also in 1948 that he was identified as secretary-general of the Northeast Bureau of the CCP and as an executive committee member of the Northeast Branch of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association. In addition, during the late forties he served as the Party secretary of Heilungkiang and as a secretary of the Northeast Party Bureau.

The Communists established their provincial and regional governments in Manchuria earlier than in China proper where they did not take over the whole of the mainland until early 1950. Thus they established the Northeast Administrative Committee (NEAC) as a regional administration for Manchuria in 1946, and in August 1949 they reorganized it into the Northeast People’s Government (NEPG). During the years 1949 to 1952 Wang served under both administrations where he was director of the Heavy Industry Department, first for the NEAC, and subsequently for the NEPG. (The department name was changed to “Industry Department” in 1950's) During the years from i 949 to 1952 he was concurrently a member of both the Finance and Economics Committee and the Higher Education Committee of the Northeast administration.

In August 1952 Wang was transferred to Peking to head the Ministry of Heavy Industry. He succeeded Li Fu-ch'un, but when he took over the Ministry it was reorganized and sections of it were transferred to two newly created industrial ministries, the First and Second Ministries of Machine Building. This narrowed the scope of Wang’s jursidiction by comparison with the work that Li had directed before him, but at the same time the growing expansion of industry placed greater pressure on the branches of the government dealing with industrial development. Apparently Wang's work in highly industrialized Manchuria (where Li Fu-ch'un had earlier worked) paved the way for the Peking assignment. No sooner had he arrived in Peking than he was selected to be a member of the delegation led by Premier Chou En-lai in August-September 1952 to Moscow, where they negotiated the return of the Chinese Changchun Railway to China and the extension of the joint use of naval facilities at Port Arthur.

As head of the highly important Ministry of Heavy Industry, Wang was called upon to speak before conferences and give periodic reports to government bodies. For example, in November 1952 he spoke before a conference of personnel from factories and mines engaged in heavy industry work, and in June 1953 he delivered a report before the Government Administration Council (the cabinet) on the heavy industry tasks for 1953. In September 1954, at the first session of the First NPC, Wang was reappointed as minister of Heavy Industry, but then in May 1956 the ministry was abolished, with its functions allotted to three new minivStries: Building Materials, Chemical Industry, and Metallurgical Industry. Wang was named to the last, a portfolio he was to hold for over eight years. At the same time he replaced Po I-po as chairman of the State Construction Commission, thus receiving two ministerial-level positions, a fairly unusual situation. This lasted nearly two years until February 1958 when the Commission was abolished and its functions assumed by the State Planning and State Economic Commissions. At the Eighth National Party Congress in September 1956, Wang addressed the delegates on the development of China's iron and steel industry, and at the close of the congress was elected an alternate member of the Party Central Committee.

In December 1963 he led a government delegation to North Vietnam to attend the opening ceremonies of a new blast furnace. However, in July 1964 he was replaced as minister of Metallurgical Industry by Lii Tung, who had served as his deputy both in Manchuria and in Peking for 15 years. Two months later Wang was elected a deputy from Liaoning to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965. (As already noted, he had been a Hopeh deputy to the Second NPC.) Wang’s election as a Liaoning deputy to the NPC foreshadowed a new appointment in that province, by July 1965 he was identified as the first secretary of the Anshan Party Committee. Because Anshan is a major steel center, Wang’s long experience in the Metallurgical Industry Ministry can probably be put to good use. However, for a man who held a ministerial post and who serves as an alternate Central Committee member, this assignment to a secretaryship at the municipal level appears to be anticlimactic and suggests that in some way he fell into political disfavor in the 1960’s.

Politics

In the middle and late 1950’s, Wang gave a number of major reports before the annual sessions of the NPC and often took part in entertaining the many foreign visitors to China. He served on the Second National Committee of the CPPCC (1954-1959) as a representative of the CCP and was a deputy from his native Hopeh to the Second NPC, which held its initial session in April 1959. Wang also wrote about the iron and steel industry for major publications. Examples include articles for the JMJP of September 26, 1959, and Hung-cWi (Red flag) of May 1, 1960. Not long after publishing the last-mentioned article, Wang began to receive considerably less press attention than earlier.

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Wang Ho-shou

Background

Education

Career

Politics

Born

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Education

1920

Career

1929

1946

1948

1952

1965