Wang Hung-k’un

1909

Wang, China

By 1931 Wang was commanding the 29th Regiment of the Fourth Red Army in the Oyiiwan base. (Later that year the Fourth and 25th Armies became the major components of the above-mentioned Fourth Front Army.) He had advanced by mid-1932 to the command of the Fourth Army's 10th Division, and by May 1934 he was in command of the Fourth Army. These and one other identification in 1937 are the only clues to Wang's career in the years from 1930 to 1937, but a brief sketch of the Fourth Front Army traces the outlines of his career for this period. Toward the end of 1932 the Fourth Front Army, under the command of Hsu Hsiang-ch'ien and Chang Kuo-t'ao, was forced to retreat from Oyiiwan in the face of savage Nationalist attacks. Moving toward Sian, the capital of Shensi, the army was within some 25 miles of the city when it was driven off and forced to turn south into northeast Szechwan. In February 1933 it reached the small town of T’ung-chiang, west of the Ta-pa Mountains on the upper reaches of the Ch’u River. The Communists held the town only briefly, but they returned to it in May and were then able to make it their headquarters for the next two years. There the Red Army established the Tung-Nan-Pa Soviet (also known as the Szechwan-Shensi Soviet). The term T'ung-Nan-Pa derived from the three principal hsicn which the Soviet comprised—T'ung-chiang, Nan- chiang, and Pa-chung. During the remainder of 1933 the Communists expanded over a considerable area in northern Szechwan, moving west to Chao-hua and Ts’ang-ch’i, south to I-lung, Ying-shan, Hsuan-han, and Ta-hsien (Sui-ting), and east to Cheng-kou. By the end of 1933 the Red Army had been pushed back to the original Tung-Nan-Pa Soviet boundaries, but in the spring of 1934 Hsu Hsiang-ch'ien launched another attack and re-occupied most of the territory he had held the previous year. When Mao Tse-tung and his army from the Kiangsi Soviet reached Tsun-i, Kweichow, in January 1935 on their now historic Long March, Hsu's Fourth Front Army held an area in Szechwan extending as far south as the line between Lang-chung (Pao-ning) and Ta-hsien. In 1939 Wang was identified as part of Hsu Hsiang-ch’ien’s command, in August 1938 Hsu’s brigade had been sent into southern Hopeh to establish the South Hopeh Military District, which was under Liu Po-ch’eng’s 129th Division. In 1939 Wang was the political commissar in the South Hopeh Military District (described in the biography of Yang Hsiu-feng, who headed the local resistance in the area). In April 1939 Hsu was sent east into Shantung to take charge of guerrilla operations there, and again Wang followed him, being identified as commander of the West Shantung Military District. Hsu was called back to Yenan in 1942, and soon afterwards his troops in Shantung were transferred from the command of the Eighth Route Army in north China and placed under Ch’en I’s New Fourth Army in east China. Wang presumably remained with this army for the duration of the war. In the early postwar period elements of the New Fourth Army in Shantung were transferred back to Liu Po-ch’eng’s command, and by the late summer of 1946 Wang was a deputy commander of Liu's Shansi-Hopeh-Shantung-Honan (Chin-Chi-Lu-Yu) Military Region. Wang was with Liu's armies which expanded southward into the Yangtze basin. Reaching the old Oyii-wan territory in the Ta-pich Mountains on the boundaries of Hupeh, Honan, and Anhwei provinces in mid-1947, the Communists established the Central Plains Liberated Area. Wang was then in command of the Sixth Column of Liu’s Central Plains Liberation Army. Liu’s army, known as the Second Field Army from early 1949, captured the Wuhan cities in the spring of 1949 in cooperation with Lin Piao's Fourth Field Army. At approximately this time Wang was again transferred, this time to Lin Piao's forces, assuming command in 1949 of the 17th Army Corps of the Fourth Field Army. Wang concurrently became deputy commander of the Hupeh Military District under Commander Li Hsien-nien, with whom he had previously been associated in Oyiiwan and the Fourth Front Army. In 1950, when provincial and regional government administrations were established in central-south China, Wang was named to membership on the Hupeh Provincial People’s Government Council and the Central-South Military and Administrative Committee (CSMAC), which had jurisdiction over several provinces, including Hupeh. He remained a nominal member of the CSMAC until 1951 and of the Hupeh government until 1954, however, by October 1950 he had already been transferred to Peking to become a deputy commander of the Chinese Navy under Commander Hsiao Ching-kuang. Of the several men who have been Navy deputy commanders, only Wang has served continuously from 1950's. Wang was a deputy from the East China Military Region to the First NPC, which met initially in September 1954 to inaugurate the constitutional government. He was appointed at that time to membership on the National Defense Council, a position he still retains. He was elected to the Second NPC (1959-1964) and to the Third NPC, which opened in December 1964. In the last two congresses Wang represented the Navy. He became an admiral in 1955 when personal military ranks were created. His rank is the second highest in the Chinese Navy. That same year military decorations were also given for the first time; Wang received all three top awards—the Orders of August First, Independence and Freedom, and Liberation covering military service from 1927 to 1950.

Wang Hung-k’un

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politician military leader CCP member

Background

Nothing is known about Wang before 1930 when he was 21.

Education

When he was 21, he was also serving as a battalion commander in the Communist guerrilla base in the Hupeh-Honan-Anhwei border area and had probably already joined the CCP.

Career

By 1931 Wang was commanding the 29th Regiment of the Fourth Red Army in the Oyiiwan base. (Later that year the Fourth and 25th Armies became the major components of the above-mentioned Fourth Front Army.) He had advanced by mid-1932 to the command of the Fourth Army's 10th Division, and by May 1934 he was in command of the Fourth Army. These and one other identification in 1937 are the only clues to Wang's career in the years from 1930 to 1937, but a brief sketch of the Fourth Front Army traces the outlines of his career for this period.

Toward the end of 1932 the Fourth Front Army, under the command of Hsu Hsiang-ch'ien and Chang Kuo-t'ao, was forced to retreat from Oyiiwan in the face of savage Nationalist attacks. Moving toward Sian, the capital of Shensi, the army was within some 25 miles of the city when it was driven off and forced to turn south into northeast Szechwan. In February 1933 it reached the small town of T’ung-chiang, west of the Ta-pa Mountains on the upper reaches of the Ch’u River. The Communists held the town only briefly, but they returned to it in May and were then able to make it their headquarters for the next two years. There the Red Army established the Tung-Nan-Pa Soviet (also known as the Szechwan-Shensi Soviet). The term T'ung-Nan-Pa derived from the three principal hsicn which the Soviet comprised—T'ung-chiang, Nan- chiang, and Pa-chung. During the remainder of 1933 the Communists expanded over a considerable area in northern Szechwan, moving west to Chao-hua and Ts’ang-ch’i, south to I-lung, Ying-shan, Hsuan-han, and Ta-hsien (Sui-ting), and east to Cheng-kou. By the end of 1933 the Red Army had been pushed back to the original Tung-Nan-Pa Soviet boundaries, but in the spring of 1934 Hsu Hsiang-ch'ien launched another attack and re-occupied most of the territory he had held the previous year. When Mao Tse-tung and his army from the Kiangsi Soviet reached Tsun-i, Kweichow, in January 1935 on their now historic Long March, Hsu's Fourth Front Army held an area in Szechwan extending as far south as the line between Lang-chung (Pao-ning) and Ta-hsien.

In 1939 Wang was identified as part of Hsu Hsiang-ch’ien’s command, in August 1938 Hsu’s brigade had been sent into southern Hopeh to establish the South Hopeh Military District, which was under Liu Po-ch’eng’s 129th Division. In 1939 Wang was the political commissar in the South Hopeh Military District (described in the biography of Yang Hsiu-feng, who headed the local resistance in the area). In April 1939 Hsu was sent east into Shantung to take charge of guerrilla operations there, and again Wang followed him, being identified as commander of the West Shantung Military District. Hsu was called back to Yenan in 1942, and soon afterwards his troops in Shantung were transferred from the command of the Eighth Route Army in north China and placed under Ch’en I’s New Fourth Army in east China. Wang presumably remained with this army for the duration of the war.

In the early postwar period elements of the New Fourth Army in Shantung were transferred back to Liu Po-ch’eng’s command, and by the late summer of 1946 Wang was a deputy commander of Liu's Shansi-Hopeh-Shantung-Honan (Chin-Chi-Lu-Yu) Military Region. Wang was with Liu's armies which expanded southward into the Yangtze basin. Reaching the old Oyii-wan territory in the Ta-pich Mountains on the boundaries of Hupeh, Honan, and Anhwei provinces in mid-1947, the Communists established the Central Plains Liberated Area. Wang was then in command of the Sixth Column of Liu’s Central Plains Liberation Army. Liu’s army, known as the Second Field Army from early 1949, captured the Wuhan cities in the spring of 1949 in cooperation with Lin Piao's Fourth Field Army. At approximately this time Wang was again transferred, this time to Lin Piao's forces, assuming command in 1949 of the 17th Army Corps of the Fourth Field Army. Wang concurrently became deputy commander of the Hupeh Military District under Commander Li Hsien-nien, with whom he had previously been associated in Oyiiwan and the Fourth Front Army.

In 1950, when provincial and regional government administrations were established in central-south China, Wang was named to membership on the Hupeh Provincial People’s Government Council and the Central-South Military and Administrative Committee (CSMAC), which had jurisdiction over several provinces, including Hupeh. He remained a nominal member of the CSMAC until 1951 and of the Hupeh government until 1954, however, by October 1950 he had already been transferred to Peking to become a deputy commander of the Chinese Navy under Commander Hsiao Ching-kuang. Of the several men who have been Navy deputy commanders, only Wang has served continuously from 1950's.

Wang was a deputy from the East China Military Region to the First NPC, which met initially in September 1954 to inaugurate the constitutional government. He was appointed at that time to membership on the National Defense Council, a position he still retains. He was elected to the Second NPC (1959-1964) and to the Third NPC, which opened in December 1964. In the last two congresses Wang represented the Navy. He became an admiral in 1955 when personal military ranks were created. His rank is the second highest in the Chinese Navy. That same year military decorations were also given for the first time; Wang received all three top awards—the Orders of August First, Independence and Freedom, and Liberation covering military service from 1927 to 1950.

Politics

He may have been attracted to the Communist movement by young Communist activists who worked in rural areas, where they capitalized on peasant discontent and organized peasant associations to resist the local authorities. The Hupeh-Honan-Anhwei base was organized from such areas in the three provinces, it became the Oyiiwan Soviet in mid-1931 after Chang Kuo-t’ao had arrived from the Shanghai Party headquarters to manage political affairs in the area. Hsu Hsiang-ch'en was the military leader, and his army, to which Wang belonged, was known from November 1931 as the Fourth Front Army.

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Wang Hung-k’un

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1931

1939

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1955