Wang Jingwei
(1883–1944), leader of China's Nationalist Party. Wang Jingwei was an early leader of China's Nationalist Party (Guomindang), whose fierce rivalry with Chiang Kai-shek (1887– 1975) led him to collaborate with the Japanese during World War II. Born in Guangzhou (Canton), Wang won a government scholarship to study in Japan, where he received a degree from Tokyo Law College in 1906. While in Tokyo, he joined Sun Yat-sen's (1866–1925) National Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui) in 1905. Wang, who demonstrated considerable writing and speaking skills, quickly rose to a prominent position in the movement. Imprisoned for participation in a plot to assassinate the Qing regent Prince Chun in 1910, Wang was released after the fall of the Manchus, or Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
Although Wang was hailed as a hero for his revolutionary activities, he left China in 1912 after the assumption of power by the militarist Yuan Shikai (1859–1916). Returning in 1917, Wang rejoined Sun in Guangzhou, where they worked to reorganize the Nationalist Party (Guomindang, as the Tongmenghui had been renamed) and build an army with the ultimate goal of reunifying China. Sun's death in 1925 left Wang seemingly positioned to take control of the Party, but his path was blocked by a new rival, Chiang Kai-shek. Although Chiang was a relative newcomer to the Nationalists and lacked Wang's revolutionary credentials, he did control the army. This would prove decisive in the coming power struggle.
As the Nationalists and their allies (including the nascent Chinese Communist Party) embarked on the Northern Expedition to reunify China, Wang emerged as the leader of the left wing of the Party (favoring the alliance with the Communists), while Chiang headed the right wing, which opposed the alliance. This dispute led briefly to the formation of separate Nationalist governments headed by Wang in Wuhan and Chiang in Nanjing. Wang later broke with the Communists and mended fences with Chiang in a show of unity following the Japanese invasion of 1931.
As titular head of the Nationalist government in Nanjing from 1932 to 1935, Wang was forced to appease the Japanese, while Chiang led the army in a campaign to exterminate the Communists. To recover from an assassination attempt, the disillusioned Wang resigned and left China in 1935. He returned after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and pessimistic about China's military prospects, attempted to persuade Chiang to make peace with Japan. After escaping another assassination attempt by Nationalist agents, Wang fled to occupied China, where the Japanese Army installed him as head of the puppet "Reorganized Nationalist Government" in Nanjing in March 1940. Wang's hopes of presenting himself as a credible alternative to Chiang, however, were dashed by the harsh reality of Japanese military domination. Wang died on 10 November 1944, while undergoing medical treatment in Nagoya, Japan.
Further Reading
Boyle, John Hunter. (1972) China and Japan at War, 1937–1945: The Politics of Collaboration. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Bunker, Gerald E. (1972) The Peace Conspiracy: Wang Chingwei and the China War, 1937–1941. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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