Wang Jingwei

Wang Jingwei ({{zh-tspw |t=汪精衛 |s=汪精卫 |p=Wāng Jīngwèi |w=Wang Ching-wei}}) (1883 – November 10, 1944), was a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang and is most noted from breaking with Chiang Kai-Shek and forming a Japanese supported collaborationist government in Nanjing. He is therefore deemed as one of most infamous "Traitors of the Han people" (漢奸).

Related Topics:
1883 - November 10 - 1944 - Left wing - Kuomintang - Chiang Kai-Shek - Nanjing - Han

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• Courtesy name: Jixin (季新)
• Alternate name: Zhaoming (兆銘).

Born in Sanshui (三水), Guangdong, Wang went to Japan as an international student sponsored by the Qing Empire government in 1903 and joined the Tongmeng Hui in 1905. He was jailed for plotting an assassination of the regent, the 2nd Prince Chun (醇親王), and remained in jail from 1910 until the Wuchang Uprising the next year.

Related Topics:
Sanshui - Guangdong - Japan - International student - Qing Empire - 1903 - Tongmeng Hui - 1905 - Assassination - 2nd Prince Chun - 1910 - Wuchang Uprising

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In the early 1920s Wang held several posts in Sun Yat-sen's Revolutionary Government in Guangzhou, but following Sun's death in 1925 he faced a powerful challenge for leadership of the KMT.

Related Topics:
1920s - Sun Yat-sen - Guangzhou - 1925

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During the Northern Expedition, Wang was the leading figure in the left-leaning faction of the KMT that called for continued cooperation with the Communist Party of China and the Comintern and for a halt in the Northern Expedition. Wang's faction, which had set up a new KMT capital at Wuhan was opposed by Chiang Kai-shek, who was in the midst of a bloody purge of Communists in Shanghai and was calling for a push north. Lacking the military or financial resources to resist the increasingly powerful Chiang, the Wang faction collapsed and Chiang Kai-shek continued his purge.

Related Topics:
Northern Expedition - Communist Party of China - Comintern - Wuhan - Shanghai

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In 1930, Wang tried another abortive coup against Chiang, this time with the aid of Féng Yùxíang and Yán Xíshān. During these incidents, he traveled to Germany, and maintained some contact with Adolf Hitler. After this failure, Wang reconciled with Chiang's Nanjing government in the early 1930s and held prominent posts for most of the decade, and accompanied the government on its retreat to Chongqing during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). During this time, he organized some right-wing groups under European fascist lines inside KMT. In late 1938, Wang left Chongqing and eventually ended up in Shanghai, ostensibly to negotiate with the Japanese invaders. On March 30, 1940, however, he became head of state of the Japanese puppet Reformed Government of the Republic of China based in Nanjing, serving as the President of the Executive Yuan and Chairman of the National Government (行政院長兼國民政府主席), and also maintaining his contacts with German and Italian fascists. Wang lived in Japan during wartimes, along with official Japanese advisers, until his death following an illness four years later in Nagoya.

Related Topics:
1930 - Féng Yùxíang - Yán Xíshān - Germany - Adolf Hitler - Nanjing - Chongqing - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) - Fascist - 1938 - March 30 - 1940 - Head of state - Reformed Government of the Republic of China - President of the Executive Yuan - Nagoya

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For his role in World War II, Wang has been vilified by most post-World-War-II Chinese historians.

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See also: History of the Republic of China

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