Background
Wang Ming, the pseudonym by which Chen Shaoyu was commonly known, was born in Anwei province in Central China on 3 May 1904.
( From Darkness to Sight chronicles the remarkable life ...)
From Darkness to Sight chronicles the remarkable life journey of Dr. Ming Wang, a world-renowned laser eye surgeon and philanthropist. As a teenager, Ming fought valiantly to escape one of historys darkest eras Chinas Cultural Revolution during which millions of innocent youth were deported to remote areas to face a life sentence of poverty and hard labor. Through his own tenacity and his parents tireless efforts to provide a chance of freedom for their son, Ming eventually made his way to America with $50 in his pocket and an American dream in his heart, where against all odds he would earn a PhD in laser physics and graduate magna cum laude with the highest honors from Harvard Medical School and MIT. He embraced his Christian faith and tackled one of the most important questions of our time Are faith and science friends or foes? which led to his invention of a breakthrough biotechnology to restore sight. To date, Dr. Wang has performed over 55,000 eye procedures and has treated patients from nearly every state in the U.S. and from over 55 countries worldwide. He is considered the doctors doctor, as he has operated on over 4,000 physicians. Dr. Wang has published 8 textbooks including a paper in the world-renowned journal Nature, holds several U.S. patents and performed the worlds first laser artificial cornea implantation. He is the recipient of the Honor Award from American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Lifetime Achievement Award from American Chinese Physician Association. Dr. Wang is currently the only surgeon in the state who performs 3D LASIK (18+), 3D Forever Young Lens Surgery (45+), 3D Laser KAMRA (45+), and 3D Laser Cataract Surgery (60+). Dr. Wang established a non-profit foundation which provides sight restoration surgeries for indigent patients who otherwise would never have the opportunity to receive them free-of-charge. This is a story of one mans inspirational journey, of turning fear, poverty, persecution and prejudice into healing and love for others. It demonstrates how focus, determination, humility, and profound faith can inspire a life that, in turn, impacts that of countless others. Dr. Wang is not only a dear friend and the very best eye surgeon, he is also one of the greatest people I have ever known. - Dolly Parton To try to put my feelings about Dr. Wang, his accomplishments, his courage, his iron will and his faith into a couple of sentences would be tantamount to packing a Mack truck into a burlap bag. This remarkable man overcame all but impossible odds to become the best in his field and this world is a better place for having Dr. Ming Wang pass through it. - Charlie Daniels. I have known Dr. Wang for nearly two decades he is a respected eye surgeon and friend. What Ming has done with his life since arriving here in the United States as a penniless student over 30 years ago exemplifies the true essence of the American dream, and the freedom that we enjoy in this great country. I highly recommend his autobiography, From Darkness to Sight. - Senator William H. Frist, MD, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader If I didnt know Ming, it would be hard to believe the story of his life. But I do know him, and his life truly is a remarkable story of faith, persistence, and excellence. - Bill Haslam, Governor of the state of Tennessee Ming Wang is well-known for the eye surgeries hes performed to give countless people better sight. And its hard to forget that hes also a ballroom dancer once youve seen one of his ads on TV. But what many people dont know is that Dr. Wang also gives very generously of his time and talents so that blind children in other countries can regain their sight. What better gift can you give someone? Nashville is lucky to be able to count Dr. Wang as one of our own. - Karl Dean, Mayor, Nashville My deeply respected friend, Dr. Ming Wang, has topped the heights of human achievement. Through his personal and professional triumphs he has captured the essence of what it means to be free and to be a loving humanitarian. The story of his unique life, as only he can tell it, will be a blessing and an inspiration to all who come to know it. - Former governor of Tennessee Dr. Winfield Dunn From Darkness to Sight is an inspiring story that shows how hard work, optimism and faith not only can lead to personal success, but also make our country stronger. Dr. Ming Wangs journey from dark days in Communist China to his career in the United States as a physician and philanthropist is a testament to the possibilities of the American Dream. - Senator Lamar Alexander
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Wang Ming, the pseudonym by which Chen Shaoyu was commonly known, was born in Anwei province in Central China on 3 May 1904.
In 1925 Wang entered Shanghai University, influenced by socialist ideas during his middle school years in Wuhan. In Shanghai he became involved in the anti-imperialist agitation.
In November 1925 Wang was sent to Moscow by the newly founded Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for a two year course of study at Sun Yat-sen University, a school designed to train future Chinese cadre. In Moscow Wang rapidly mastered the Russian language and Marxist-Leninist theory, joined the CCP, and emerged as the leader of the foreign students at Sun Yat-sen University.
Wang formed close ties with a number of other Chinese students in Moscow, ties which were an important source of strength in his subsequent contest with Mao. He also became the star protegé of Pavel Mif, one of the Soviet Union's leading sinologists and rector of Sun Yat-sen University.
From 1927 to 1929 Wang served as a Comintern functionary, acting as Russian language interpreter at the CCP's fifth and sixth congresses in 1927 and 1928 and assisting the Comintern's representative Borodin in Wuhan in 1927.
In 1930 Wang Ming led a small group of Chinese students from Moscow back to China, where they challenged the leadership of CCP head Li Lisan. Wang's "Returned Students" or "28 Bolsheviks" charged that Li's "political errors" were responsible for the setbacks the CCP had recently suffered in implementing the Comintern's directives. Although Li had in fact faithfully implemented Moscow's orders, he was made a scapegoat for the failures resulting from those orders, and in January 1931 he was ousted as leader of the CCP.
Li's removal involved the direct intervention of Pavel Mif, who was then Comintern representative to China. Wang Ming's group took over leadership of the CCP from Li; a number of "Returned Students" were made Politburo members, and Wang became secretary general.
In 1932 Wang returned to Moscow to serve as CCP representative to the Comintern, leaving his Returned Student followers Zhang Wentien, Qin Bangxian, and Shen Zemin in control of the CCP's central organs.
From 1931 through 1934 Wang Ming's group struggled to take over control of the peasant armies and rural base areas Mao Tse-Tung and Zhu De had built up in Jiangxi province.
Years later, in 1945, the orthodox CCP interpretation of this period characterized it as "the third left deviation" and charged that Wang and his group wanted to use the Red Army to seize major cities so that the urban proletariat could be mobilized for the revolution, in line with Soviet teachings. From Moscow Wang wrote many articles applying the Comintern's line to Chinese circumstances.
In 1933 Wang was elected to the Comintern's Central Executive Committee (CEC). Comintern policy shifted as Stalin began to realize the threat posed to the U. S. S. R. by Nazi rule of Germany. By 1934-1935 Moscow desired collective security with the capitalist democracies to deal with the two-front threat posed by Nazi Germany and Japan. This meant that the attitude of the Comintern's "branch parties" toward the rulers of those capitalist democracies would have to be moderated.
Wang Ming played a major role in interpreting and applying to China Moscow's new line of an "antifascist united front. " He drafted the "August First Manifesto" of 1935 which set the CCP on a course of an anti-Japanese united front with Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Party (or KMT) against Japan, thus dropping the previous line of revolutionary civil war to overthrow Chiang and the KMT.
The Seventh Comintern Congress, which reoriented the Comintern toward the "anti-fascist united front, " also elected Wang a member of the Presidium of the Comintern's CEC-a higher Comintern post than was held by any other member of the CCP. During the Long March Mao won over key members of Wang's Internationalist faction and used the opportunity of severance of radio contact with Moscow to push aside Wang's people and have himself elected leader of the CCP at an expanded Politburo conference at Sunyi, Kueizhou province, in January 1935. Once the Long March was over and the CCP was ensconsed in Northern Shaanxi, Wang Ming attempted to use the Comintern's new united front line to undermine Mao's newly established leadership.
From mid-1935 through the fall of 1938 there were important differences between Wang and Mao over the terms of the CCP-KMT united front. These differences became acute once the Sino-Japanese war began in July 1937. The specific points in dispute were many and complex, but, in sum, Wang argued that the CCP should subordinate itself to the KMT for the sake of keeping the KMT in the war against Japan, to ensure a pro-Soviet foreign policy on the part of Chiang Kai-shek, and to facilitate collective security between the U. S. S. R. and Britain, France, and the United States.
Mao, on the other hand, saw the destruction of KMT power in vast areas of north and central China as an unprecedented opportunity to expand Communist power and was unwilling to forgo this opportunity for the sake of Moscow's interests.
At a critical juncture of the Sino-Japanese war in late November 1937, Wang Ming returned to China to try to force Mao to alter his radical line. After a year of complex maneuvering, Mao and Stalin finally reached a compromise. One aspect of this compromise was Comintern endorsement of Mao's leadership of the CCP and the demotion of Wang Ming at the Sixth Plenum of the CCP's Sixth Central Committee in the fall of 1938. After 1938 Wang Ming never again posed a serious challenge to Mao, although he did continue to dispute Mao's policies.
Wang's influence was progressively reduced after the fall of 1938 and became negligible after the 1942-1943 rectification campaign in the CCP against "foreign dogmatism" and "foreign formalism"-euphemisms for Wang's penchant for Soviet Marxism.
Wang held relatively unimportant posts through the 1940 and into the mid-1950. As late as 1956 he was elected to the CCP's Central Committee, but he was listed last of the 97 Central Committee members.
Wang returned to the Soviet Union in 1956, with the permission of the CCP and for reasons of "health. " During the Cultural Revolution Wang was an active propagandist for Moscow, making Chinese language broadcasts to China and writing several books and articles condemning Mao's rule.
He died after an illness in Moscow on March 27, 1974, at the age of 70.
( From Darkness to Sight chronicles the remarkable life ...)
Years later, in 1945, the orthodox CCP interpretation of this period characterized it as "the third left deviation" and charged that Wang and his group wanted to use the Red Army to seize major cities so that the urban proletariat could be mobilized for the revolution, in line with Soviet teachings.
Wang Ming was the leader of the "Internationalist" group within the Chinese Communist Party that opposed Mao Tse-Tung's (Zedong's) nationalist "deviation" and favored, instead, disciplined compliance with each shift in the Comintern line.
He drafted the "August First Manifesto" of 1935 which set the CCP on a course of an anti-Japanese united front with Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Party (or KMT) against Japan, thus dropping the previous line of revolutionary civil war to overthrow Chiang and the KMT.
Mao, on the other hand, saw the destruction of KMT power in vast areas of north and central China as an unprecedented opportunity to expand Communist power and was unwilling to forgo this opportunity for the sake of Moscow's interests.
Further Reading Wang Ming's life is discussed in the standard biographic dictionaries of China: Donald W. Klein and Anne B. Clark, Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965 (1971); Howard L. Boorman, Biographic Dictionary of Republican China (1967); and Who's Who in Communist China (Hong Kong, 1969).
The Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China
In 1930 Wang married Meng Qingshu.