View source for Wang Jingwei

{{Short description|Chinese politician (1883–1944)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Wāng]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Expand Chinese|topic=bio|date=January 2024}}
{{Expand Japanese|topic=bio|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Wang Jingwei
| native_name         = {{nobold|汪精衞}}
| native_name_lang    = zh
| image               = 汪精衛照片.jpg
| office              = 1st Chairman of the [[Wang Jingwei regime|National Government Committee of China]]<br>{{small|([[Wang Jingwei regime]])}}
| term_start          = 28 November 1940
| term_end            = 10 November 1944
| predecessor         = ''Office established''
| successor           = [[Chen Gongbo]]
| office1             = [[Premier of the Republic of China|Premier of China]]<br>{{small|([[Wang Jingwei regime]])}}
| term_start1         = 30 March 1940
| term_end1           = 10 November 1944
| president1          = [[Lin Sen]]
| predecessor1        = ''Office established''
| successor1          = Chen Gongbo
| office2             = 1st Chairman of the [[Central Political Committee]]<br>{{small|([[Wang Jingwei regime]])}}
| term_start2         = 24 March 1940
| term_end2           = 10 November 1944
| predecessor2        = ''Office established''
| successor2          = Chen Gongbo
| office3             = [[Kuomintang (Wang Jingwei)|Chairman of Kuomintang]]<br>{{small|([[Wang Jingwei regime]])}}
| term_start3         = 28 November 1939
| term_end3           = 10 November 1944
| predecessor3        = ''Office established''
| successor3          = Chen Gongbo{{collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Other offices}}
| office4             = Chairman of the [[National Political Consultative Conference]]
| term_start4         = 6 July 1938
| term_end4           = 1 January 1939
| predecessor4        = ''Office established''
| successor4          = [[Chang Po-ling]] (acting)
| office5             = [[Vice Chairman of the Kuomintang|Vice Director-General of the Kuomintang]]
| term_start5         = 1 April 1938
| term_end5           = 1 January 1939
| predecessor5        = ''Office established''
| successor5          = [[Chen Cheng]] (acting)
| office6             = Chairman of the Central Political Committee of the Kuomintang
| term_start6         = 7 December 1935
| term_end6           = 17 November 1937
| predecessor6        = [[Chiang Kai-shek]]
| successor6          = Chiang Kai-shek
| term_start7         = 1 July 1925
| term_end7           = 23 March 1926
| predecessor7        = [[Hu Hanmin]]
| successor7          = [[Tan Yankai]]
| office8             = Chairman of the National Defense Committee of the Kuomintang
| term_start8         = 3 March 1937
| term_end8           = 11 August 1937
| predecessor8        = Chiang Kai-shek
| successor8          = Chiang Kai-shek
| office9             = 24th [[Premier of the Republic of China|Premier of China]]
| term_start9         = 28 January 1932
| term_end9           = 1 December 1935
| president9          = [[Lin Sen]]
| predecessor9        = [[Sun Fo]]
| successor9          = Chiang Kai-shek
| office10            = [[Military Affairs Commission|Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission]]
| term_start10        = 3 July 1925
| term_end10          = 16 April 1926
| predecessor10       = ''Office established''
| successor10         = Chiang Kai-shek
| office11            = Chairman of the National Government Committee
| term_start11        = 1 July 1925
| term_end11          = 23 March 1926
| predecessor11       = ''Office established''
| successor11         = Chiang Kai-shek
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1883|5|4}}
| birth_place         = [[Sanshui]], Guangdong, [[Qing dynasty]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1944|11|10|1883|5|4}}
| death_place         = [[Nagoya]], Japan
| party               = {{ubl|[[Kuomintang]]|[[Kuomintang (Wang Jingwei)|Kuomintang-Nanjing]]}}
| branch              = [[Collaborationist Chinese Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1940–1944
| rank                = [[Generalissimo]] ({{lang|zh|特級上將}})
| battles             = [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]
| spouse              = [[Chen Bijun]]
| children            = 6
| module              = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes|showflag=p
 | t = 汪精衞
 | s = 汪精卫
 | p = Wāng Jīngwèi
 | w = {{tonesup|Wang1 Ching1-wei4}}
 | j = Wong1 Zing1-wai6
 | y = Wōng Jīng-waih
 | altname = Birth name
 | t2 = 汪兆銘
 | s2 = 汪兆铭
 | p2 = Wāng Zhàomíng
 | w2 = {{tonesup|Wang1 Chao4-ming2}}
 | j2 = Wong1 Siu6-ming5
 | y2 = Wōng Siuh-míhng
}}
}}
'''Wang Zhaoming''' (4 May 1883{{snd}}10 November 1944), widely known by his pen name '''Wang Jingwei''', was a Chinese politician and poet who was president of the [[Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China]], a puppet state of the [[Empire of Japan]]. He was initially a member of the [[Socialist ideology of the Kuomintang|left wing]] of the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT), leading a [[Government of the Republic of China in Wuhan|government]] in [[Wuhan]] in opposition to the right-wing [[Nationalist government]] in [[Nanjing]], but later became increasingly [[anti-communist]] after his efforts to collaborate with the [[Chinese Communist Party]] ended in political failure.

Wang was a close associate of [[Sun Yat-sen]] for the last twenty years of Sun's life. After Sun's death in 1925, Wang engaged in a political struggle with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] for control over the Kuomintang, but lost. Wang remained inside the Kuomintang, but continued to have disagreements with Chiang. Following the outbreak of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] in 1937, Wang accepted an invitation from the Japanese to form a collaborationist government in [[Nanjing]], of which he served as the [[head of state]] until his death shortly before the [[End of World War II in Asia]]. His legacy remains controversial among historians. Although he is still regarded as an important contributor in the [[1911 Revolution]], his collaboration with Imperial Japan is a subject of academic debate,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/article/709876/tragic-lives-national-hero-turned-traitor-and-wife-who-stayed-loyal|title=The tragic lives of a national hero turned traitor and the wife who stayed loyal|date=28 March 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Girard |first1=Bonnie |title=The Common Thread Between a Chinese Collaborator and the Chinese Communist Party |url=https://thediplomat.com/2023/04/the-common-thread-between-a-chinese-collaborator-and-the-chinese-communist-party/ |website=The Diplomat |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref> and the typical narratives often regard him as a [[Hanjian|traitor]] with his name becoming synonymous with treason.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://etoep.tc.edu.tw/modules/km_user/viewres.php?did=8488 |script-title=zh:資源訊息 |access-date=17 July 2014 |archive-date=26 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726040157/http://etoep.tc.edu.tw/modules/km_user/viewres.php?did=8488 |url-status=dead |language=zh}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Wang Jingwei.png|thumb|left|upright|Wang Jingwei in his twenties]]
[[File:Former Residence of Wang Jingwei 01 2011-11.JPG|thumb|Former residence of Wang Jingwei in [[Nanjing]].]]
Born in [[Sanshui]], Guangdong, but of [[Zhejiang]] origin, Wang went to Japan as an international student sponsored by the Qing Dynasty government in 1903, and joined the [[Tongmenghui]] in 1905. He also adopted the [[sobriquet]] "Wang Jingwei" in 1905.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=2}}

As a young man, Wang came to blame the Qing dynasty for holding China back, and making it too weak to fight off exploitation by Western imperialist powers. Wang studied in Japan, where he cut off his [[Queue (hairstyle)|queue]] and embraced theories of democracy and [[liberalism]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=29}} While in Japan, Wang became a close confidant of Sun Yat-sen, and would later go on to become one of the most important members of the early Kuomintang. He was among the Chinese nationalists in Japan who were influenced by [[Anarchism in Russia|Russian anarchism]], and published a number of articles in journals edited by [[Zhang Renjie]], [[Wu Zhihui]], and the group of [[Anarchism in China|Chinese anarchists]] in Paris.<ref>''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China.'' Eds. Howard L. Boorman and Richard C. Howard,(New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), pp. 369–370.</ref>

Japan's victory in the [[Russo-Japanese War]] impressed Wang, and influenced his view of [[nationalism]] as an ideology that could unite a country around the idea of self-strengthening.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=30}}

==Early career==
In the years leading up to the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, Wang was active in opposing the Qing government. Wang gained prominence during this period as an excellent public speaker and a staunch advocate of [[Chinese nationalism]].

Wang was part of a Tongmenghui cell which attempted to assassinate the regent, [[Zaifeng, Prince Chun|Prince Chun]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=40–41}} Wang and [[Chen Bijun]] were betrothed and informally married shortly before the assassination attempt.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=44}} The bomb that Wang and his cell planted was discovered, and Wang and two others who planned the assassination were arrested two weeks later.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=40–41}} Wang readily admitted his guilt at trial and was not repentant.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}} Wang was sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}}

A number of factors may have contributed to Wang's receiving a life sentence instead of being executed.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}} [[Shanqi]] (Prince Su) was believed to have been moved by Wang's confession.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}} In his view, leniency would show the government's magnanimity and its commitment to reform.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}} Additionally, Shanqi's advisor Cheng Jiacheng was an undercover Tongmenghui agent and there were other sympathetic officials.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}} Finally, Tongmenghui leaders threatened reprisals if Wang were executed, and these threats may have had an intimidating effect on government officials.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}}

He remained in jail from 1910 until the [[Wuchang Uprising]] the next year, when he was freed as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners,<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=41}} and became something of a national hero upon his release.<ref>''The Biographical Dictionary of Republican China.'' Eds. Howard L. Boorman and Richard C. Howard,(New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), pp. 370–371.</ref> A book of poems written by Wang during his incarceration was published after his release and became widely popular.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=41–42}}

During and after the Xinhai Revolution, Wang's political life was defined by his opposition to Western imperialism.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

Wang was a part of the [[Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=47–48}}

While Wang was living in France in 1913, the Kuomintang's (KMT) parliamentary leader [[Song Jiaoren]] was shot and died two days later.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=51}} [[Yuan Shikai]] was alleged to have been responsible for the assassination.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=51}} Sun Yat-Sen summoned Wang back to China shortly thereafter.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=51}}

Wang attended the post-World War I [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] as an observer, having declined to take a formal role with one of the competing Chinese delegations to avoid compromising his impartiality.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=56}} He was outraged by the diplomatic fiasco that unfolded at the conference and the European powers' treatment of China.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=57}}

In the early 1920s, he held several posts in Sun Yat-sen's Revolutionary Government in [[Guangzhou]], and was the only member of Sun's inner circle to accompany him on trips outside of KMT-held territory in the months immediately preceding Sun's death. He is believed by many to have drafted Sun's will during the short period before Sun's death, in the winter of 1925.
[[File:Wang Ching-wei addressing the students before the parade.jpg|thumb|Wang Jingwei addressing the students before a [[Shakee Massacre|demonstration in Shakee]] in June 1925 in [[Guangzhou]]]]
He was considered one of the main contenders to replace Sun as leader of the KMT, but eventually lost control of the party and army to Chiang Kai-shek.<ref>[[Jonathan Spence|Spence, Jonathan D.]] (1999) ''[[The Search for Modern China]]'', [[W.W. Norton and Company]]. pp. 321–322. {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}}.</ref> At this time, Wang's view was that the KMT should be the lead party in a democratic coalition based on [[constitutionalism]] and that it should guide mass movements to change China's social structure.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=21–22}}

Wang had clearly lost control of the KMT by 1926, when, following the [[Zhongshan Warship Incident]], Chiang successfully sent Wang and his family to vacation in Europe. It was important for Chiang to have Wang away from Guangdong while Chiang was in the process of expelling communists from the KMT because Wang was then the leader of the left wing of the KMT, notably sympathetic to communists and communism, and may have opposed Chiang if he had remained in China.<ref>Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NztlWQeXf2IC ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life''] Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. p. 34. {{ISBN|962-996-280-2}}. Retrieved 12 March 2011.</ref>

==Rivalry with Chiang Kai-shek==
[[File:Chiang and Wang 1927.jpeg|thumb|Wang Jingwei and [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang Kai-Shek]] in 1927]]

===Leader of the Wuhan Government===
{{Template:Georgism|politicians}}
During the [[Northern Expedition (1926–1927)|Northern Expedition]], Wang was the leading figure in the left-leaning faction of the KMT that called for continued cooperation with the [[Chinese Communist Party]]. Although Wang collaborated closely with Chinese communists in Wuhan, he was philosophically opposed to communism and regarded the KMT's Comintern advisors with suspicion.<ref>Dongyoun Hwang. Wang Jingwei, The National Government, and the Problem of Collaboration. PhD Dissertation, Duke University. UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2000, p. 118.</ref> He did not believe that Communists could be true patriots or true Chinese nationalists.<ref>Dongyoun Hwang. Wang Jingwei, The National Government, and the Problem of Collaboration. PhD Dissertation, Duke University. UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2000, p. 148.</ref> In an interview with ''[[The New York Times]]'', Wang stated:<blockquote>[[Sun Yat-sen]], as you know, was greatly influenced by the American radical [[Henry George]], but he was never a Communist. His economic program, which is ours, means three things: [[Land value tax|Henry George's method of assessing land]], definite laws against monopoly under private ownership, and Government ownership of large public utilities. We propose to realize this program without violence and without confiscation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Blanshard |first=Paul |date=11 September 1927 |title=WANG CHING-WEI RISES IN CHINA; Trained by Sun Yat-sen, He Is Now Civil Head Of the Nationalist Party -- An Anti-Communist -- His Adventurous Career |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/09/11/archives/wang-chingwei-rises-in-china-trained-by-sun-yatsen-he-is-now-civil.html |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref></blockquote>In early 1927, shortly before Chiang captured the Chinese sections of Shanghai and moved the capital to Nanjing, Wang's faction declared the capital of the Republic to be [[Wuhan]]. While attempting to direct the [[Government of the Republic of China in Wuhan|government from Wuhan]], Wang was notable for his close collaboration with leading communist figures, including [[Mao Zedong]], [[Chen Duxiu]], and [[Mikhail Borodin|Borodin]], and for his faction's provocative land reform policies. Wang later blamed the failure of his Wuhan government on its excessive adoption of communist agendas. Wang's regime 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 farther north. The separation between the governments of Wang and Chiang are known as the "[[Nanjing-Wuhan Split|Ninghan Separation]]" ({{zh|t=寧漢分裂|s=宁汉分裂|p=Nínghàn Fenlìe|first=t}}).<ref>Spence, Jonathan D. (1999) ''The Search for Modern China'', W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 338–339. {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}}.</ref>

Chiang Kai-shek occupied the Chinese sections of Shanghai in April 1927, and began a bloody suppression of suspected communists known as the "[[Shanghai massacre of 1927|Shanghai Massacre]]". Within several weeks of Chiang's suppression of communists in Shanghai, Wang's leftist government was attacked by a KMT-aligned warlord and promptly disintegrated, leaving Chiang as the sole legitimate leader of the Republic. KMT troops occupying territories formerly controlled by Wang conducted massacres of suspected Communists in many areas: around [[Changsha]] alone, over ten thousand people were killed in a single twenty-day period. Fearing retribution as a communist sympathizer, Wang publicly claimed allegiance to Chiang before fleeing to Europe.<ref name="Barnouin38">Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life.'' Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. p. 38. Retrieved 12 March 2011.</ref>

===Political activities in Chiang's government===
Between 1929 and 1930, Wang collaborated with [[Feng Yuxiang]] and [[Yan Xishan]] to form a central government in opposition to the one headed by Chiang. Wang took part in a conference hosted by Yan to draft a new constitution, and was to serve as the Prime Minister under Yan, who would be president. Wang's attempts to aid Yan's government ended when Chiang defeated the alliance in the [[Central Plains War]].<ref>Gillin, Donald G. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2943488 "Portrait of a Warlord: Yen Hsi-shan in Shansi Province, 1911–1930"] ''The Journal of Asian Studies''. Vol. 19, No. 3, May, 1960. p. 293. Retrieved 23 February 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740400,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130040834/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740400,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 January 2011 |title=CHINA: President Resigns |work=TIME Magazine |date=29 September 1930 |access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Wang Jinwei Chan pitqun in Malaya.jpg|thumb|left|Wang Jingwei (second from left) and Chen Bijun (far left) in [[British Malaya]], 1935]]

In 1931, Wang joined another anti-Chiang government in Guangzhou. After Chiang defeated this regime, Wang reconciled with Chiang's Nanjing government and held prominent posts for most of the decade. Wang was appointed [[Premier of the Republic of China|premier]] just as the [[Battle of Shanghai (1932)]] began. He had frequent disputes with Chiang and would resign in protest several times only to have his resignation rescinded. As a result of these power struggles within the KMT, Wang was forced to spend much of his time in exile. He traveled to Germany, and maintained some contact with [[Adolf Hitler]]. As the leader of the Kuomintang's left-wing faction and a man who had been closely associated with Dr. Sun, Chiang wanted Wang as premier both to protect the "progressive" reputation of his government which was waging a civil war with the Communists and a shield for protecting his government from widespread public criticism of Chiang's policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" (i.e. first defeat the Communists, then confront Japan). Despite the fact that Wang and Chiang disliked and distrusted each other, Chiang was prepared to make compromises to keep Wang on as premier.<ref name="So">{{cite journal|last1=So|first1=Wai Chor|title=The Making of the Guomindang's Japan Policy, 1932-1937: The Roles of Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei|journal=Modern China|date=April 2002|volume=28|issue=2|pages=213–251|doi=10.1177/009770040202800203|s2cid=143785141}}</ref>{{rp|214–215}} In regards to Japan, Wang and Chiang differed in that Wang was extremely pessimistic about China's ability to win the coming war with Japan (which almost everyone in 1930s China regarded as inevitable) and was opposed to alliances with any foreign powers should the war come.<ref name="So" />{{rp|215}}
[[File:Wang Jingwei Time Cover.jpg|left|thumb|Wang Jingwei on a 1935 cover of [[Time (magazine)|Time]] magazine]]
While being opposed to any effort at this time to subordinate China to Japan, Wang also saw the "white powers" like the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States as equal if not greater dangers to China, insisting that China had to defeat Japan solely by its own efforts if the Chinese were to hope to maintain their independence.<ref name="So" />{{rp|234–235}} But at the same time, Wang's belief that China was too economically backward at present to win a war against a Japan which had been aggressively modernizing since the Meiji Restoration of 1867 made him the advocate of avoiding war with Japan at almost any cost and trying to negotiate some sort of an agreement with Japan which would preserve China's independence.<ref name="So" />{{rp|236}} Chiang by contrast believed that if his modernization program was given enough time, China would win the coming war and that if the war came before his modernization plans were complete, he was willing to ally with any foreign power to defeat Japan, even including the Soviet Union, which was supporting the Chinese Communists in the civil war. Chiang was much more of a hardline anti-Communist than was Wang, but Chiang was also a self-proclaimed "realist" who was willing if necessary to have an alliance with the Soviet Union.<ref name="So" />{{rp|215}} Though in the short-run, Wang and Chiang agreed on the policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance", in the long-run they differed as Wang was more of an appeaser while Chiang just wanted to buy time to modernize China for the coming war.<ref name="So" />{{rp|237}} The effectiveness of the KMT was constantly hindered by leadership and personal struggles, such as that between Wang and Chiang. In December 1935, Wang permanently left the premiership after being seriously wounded during an assassination attempt engineered a month earlier by [[Wang Yaqiao]].

In 1936, Wang clashed with Chiang over foreign policy. In an ironic role reversal, the left-wing "progressive" Wang argued for accepting the German-Japanese offer of having China sign the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] while the right-wing "reactionary" Chiang wanted a rapprochement with the Soviet Union.<ref name="So" />{{rp|237–238}} During the 1936 [[Xi'an Incident]], in which Chiang was taken prisoner by his own general, [[Zhang Xueliang]], Wang favored sending a "punitive expedition" to attack Zhang. He was apparently ready to march on Zhang, but Chiang's wife, [[Soong Mei-ling]], and brother-in-law, [[T. V. Soong]], feared that such an action would lead to Chiang's death and his replacement by Wang, so they successfully opposed this action.<ref>Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life.'' Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. p. 66. Retrieved 12 March 2011.</ref>

Wang accompanied the government on its retreat to [[Chongqing]] during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] (1937–1945). During this time, he organized some right-wing groups along European fascist lines inside the KMT. Wang was originally part of the pro-war group; but, after the Japanese were successful in occupying large areas of coastal China, Wang became known for his pessimistic view on China's chances in the war against Japan.<ref name="Wang1">Cheng, Pei-Kai, Michael Lestz, and Jonathan D. Spence (Eds.) ''The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection'', W.W. Norton and Company. (1999) pp. 330–331. {{ISBN|0-393-97372-7}}.</ref> He often voiced defeatist opinions in KMT staff meetings, and continued to express his view that Western imperialism was the greater danger to China, much to the chagrin of his associates. Wang believed that China needed to reach a negotiated settlement with Japan so that Asia could resist Western Powers.

==Rival presidency and alliance with the Axis Powers==
{{Anchor|Alliance with the Axis Powers}}[[File:Wang Jingwei and Nazis.jpg|thumb|Wang receiving German diplomats while serving as the head of state in 1941]]
[[File:汪精卫见东条英机.jpg|thumb|[[Hideki Tojo]] and Wang Jingwei meet in 1942]]
In late 1938, Wang left Chongqing for Hanoi, French Indochina, where he stayed for three months and announced his support for a negotiated settlement with the Japanese.<ref name="Wang1"/> During this time, he was wounded in an assassination attempt by KMT agents. Wang then flew to Shanghai, where he entered negotiations with Japanese authorities. The Japanese invasion had given him the opportunity he had long sought to establish a new government outside of Chiang Kai-shek's control.

On 30 March 1940, Wang became the head of state of what came to be known as the [[Wang Jingwei regime]] (formally "the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China") based in Nanjing, serving as the President of the Executive Yuan and Chairman of the National Government ({{lang|zh-hant|行政院長兼國民政府主席}}). In November 1940, Wang's government signed the "Sino-Japanese Treaty" with the Japanese, a document that has been compared with Japan's [[Twenty-One Demands]] for its broad political, military, and economic concessions.<ref name="Wang1"/> In June 1941, Wang gave a public radio address from Tokyo in which he praised Japan and affirmed China's submission to it while criticizing the Kuomintang government, and pledged to work with the Empire of Japan to resist Communism and Western imperialism.<ref>Wang Jingwei. "Radio Address by Mr. Wang Jingwei, President of the Chinese Executive Yuan Broadcast on 24 June 1941" ''The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection''. Cheng, Pei-Kai, Michael Lestz, and Jonathan D. Spence (Eds.). W.W. Norton and Company. (1999) pp. 330–331. {{ISBN|0-393-97372-7}}.</ref> Wang continued to orchestrate politics within his regime in concert with Chiang's international relationship with foreign powers, seizing the [[Shanghai French Concession|French Concession]] and the [[Shanghai International Settlement|International Settlement of Shanghai]] in 1943, after Western nations agreed by consensus to abolish [[extraterritoriality]].<ref>Spence, Jonathan D. (1999) ''The Search for Modern China'', W.W. Norton and Company. p. 449. {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}}.</ref>

The Government of National Salvation of the collaborationist "''Republic of China''", which Wang headed, was established on the Three Principles of [[Pan-Asianism]], [[anti-communism]], and opposition to Chiang Kai-shek. Wang continued to maintain his contacts with German [[Nazism|Nazis]] and Italian fascists he had established while in exile.<ref name="Wang Ching-wei">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/635349/Wang-Ching-wei |title=Wang Ching-wei |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=30 April 2023 }}</ref><ref name="Ramon Hawley Myers 1993. p. 141">Lifu Chen and Ramon Hawley Myers. ''The storm clouds clear over China: the memoir of Chʻen Li-fu, 1900–1993.'' p. 141. (1994)</ref>

==Administration of the Wang Jingwei regime==
{{more citations needed|section|date=March 2019}}
{{Main|Wang Jingwei regime}}

Japanese under the regime had greater access to coveted wartime luxuries, enjoying things like matches, rice, tea, coffee, cigars, foods, and alcoholic drinks, all of which were scarce in Japan proper, but consumer goods became more scarce after Japan entered World War II. In Japan-occupied Chinese territories, the prices of basic necessities rose substantially, as Japan's war effort expanded. In Shanghai in 1941, they increased elevenfold.
 
Daily life was often difficult in the Nanjing Nationalist government-controlled Republic of China, and grew more so as the war turned against Japan ({{Circa|1943}}). Local residents resorted to the [[black market]] to obtain needed items. The Japanese [[Kempeitai]], [[Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu|Tokko]], collaborationist Chinese police, and Chinese citizens in the service of the Japanese all worked to censor information, monitor any opposition, and torture enemies and dissenters. A "native" secret agency, the ''[[Tewu]]'', was created with the aid of Japanese Army "advisors". The Japanese also established prisoner-of-war detention centers, concentration camps, and [[kamikaze]] training centers to indoctrinate pilots.

Since Wang's government held authority only over territories under Japanese military occupation, there was a limited amount that officials loyal to Wang could do to ease the suffering of Chinese under Japanese occupation. Wang himself became a focal point of anti-Japanese resistance. He was demonized and branded as an "[[Hanjian|arch-traitor]]" in both KMT and [[Communist Party of China|Communist]] propaganda. Wang and his government were deeply unpopular with the Chinese populace, who regarded them as traitors to both the Chinese state and [[Han Chinese]] identity.<ref>Frederic Wakeman, Jr. "Hanjian (Traitor) Collaboration and Retribution in Wartime Shanghai". In Wen-hsin Yeh, ed. Becoming Chinese: Passages to Modernity and Beyond. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 322.</ref> Wang's rule was constantly undermined by resistance and sabotage.

The strategy of the local education system was to create a workforce suited for employment in factories and mines, and for manual labor in general. The Japanese also attempted to introduce their culture and dress to the Chinese. Complaints and agitation called for more meaningful Chinese educational development. [[Shinto]] temples and similar cultural centers were built in order to instill Japanese culture and values. These activities came to a halt at the end of the war.

==Death==
In March 1944, Wang left for Japan to undergo medical treatment for the wound left by an assassination attempt in 1939.<ref name="Wang Ching-wei"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.desertwar.net/wang-jingwei.html|title=Wang Jingwei}}</ref><ref name="Ramon Hawley Myers 1993. p. 141"/> He died in [[Nagoya]] on 10 November 1944, less than a year before Japan's surrender to the Allies. Many of his senior followers who lived to see the end of the war were executed. His death was not reported in occupied China until the afternoon of 12 November, after commemorative events for Sun Yat-sen's birth had concluded. Contrary to a number of secondary accounts, Wang was not buried near the [[Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum]] in an elaborately constructed mausoleum.<ref>Taylor, Jeremy E. (2019). "From Traitor to Martyr: Drawing Lessons From the Death and Burial of Wang Jingwei, 1944". ''Journal of Chinese History'' '''3''', pp. 146–153. https://doi.org/10.1017/jch.2017.43.</ref> Instead, he was buried on Plum Flower Mountain, near the mausoleums of the Ming dynasty, in a small, temporary tomb consisting of only a circular grass topped mound eight metres wide and four metres high, a makeshift wooden structure and a sign reading "Wang Jingwei's tomb". Wang was to be moved to Canton (modern [[Guangzhou]]) for final burial below [[Pakwan Mountain]] upon the reunification of the country under the Nanking government.<ref>Taylor, pp. 146-153.</ref> Soon after Japan's defeat, the Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-shek moved its capital back to Nanjing, destroyed Wang's tomb, and burned the body. Today, the site is commemorated with a small pavilion that notes Wang as a traitor.<ref>Taylor, pp. 146-153</ref>

==Legacy==
For his role in the [[Pacific War]], Wang has been considered a traitor by most post-World War II Chinese historians in both Taiwan and mainland China. His name has become a [[wikt:byword|byword]] for "traitor" or "treason" in mainland China and Taiwan. In their rhetoric, the communist and nationalist governments would both go on to eviscerate Wang for his collaboration with the Japanese. The Communist Party emphasized his anti-communism while the Kuomintang downplayed it—instead focusing on his personal betrayal of Chiang Kai-shek. Moreover, the communists purported that his high rank within the KMT demonstrated a duplicitous, treasonous nature inherent to the nationalist party. Both sides chose to minimize his earlier association with Sun Yat-sen.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ke-wen |first=Wang |date=2002 |title=Irreversible Verdict? Historical Assessments of Wang Jingwei in the People's Republic and Taiwan |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/tcc.2002.28.1.57 |journal=Twentieth-Century China |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=57–81 |doi=10.1179/tcc.2002.28.1.57 |issn=1521-5385|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|59}}{{Request quotation|date=June 2015}}

==Personal life==
Wang was married to [[Chen Bijun]]. They were betrothed and had an informal wedding shortly before the assassination attempt on Prince Chun and were formally married in 1912.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=44, 47}} The couple had six children,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Zhiyi |title=Poetry, History, Memory: Wang Jingwei and China in Dark Times |date=2023 |publisher=[[The University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-05650-7 |location=Ann Arbor, MI}}</ref>{{Rp|page=22}} five of whom survived into adulthood. Of those who survived into adulthood, Wang's eldest son Ying (later changed to Wenying) was born in France in 1913.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=50–51}} Wang's eldest daughter, Wenxing, was born in France in 1915, worked as a teacher in Hong Kong after 1948, retired to the US in 1984 and died in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Remembering Wang Jingwei|url=http://wangjingwei.org/en/wang-jingwei-life-en/remembering-wang-jingwei/|website=The Wang Jingwei Website|access-date=30 May 2017|archive-date=15 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115080012/http://wangjingwei.org/en/wang-jingwei-life-en/remembering-wang-jingwei/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Wang's second daughter, Wang Wenbin, was born in 1920. Wang's third daughter, Wenxun, was born in Guangzhou in 1922 and died in 2002 in Hong Kong. Wang's second son, Wenti, was born in 1928 and was sentenced in 1946 to 18 months' imprisonment for being a ''[[hanjian]]''. After serving his sentence, Wang Wenti settled in Hong Kong where he was involved in numerous education projects with the mainland starting in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.163.com/dy/article/FSCT1U000517L28K.html |title=汪精卫儿子回国祭祖，看到父母跪像，咬牙说了10字，字字扎心！ |work=NetEase |date=26 November 2020 |access-date=2 August 2021 |archive-date=2 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802161943/https://www.163.com/dy/article/FSCT1U000517L28K.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|China}}
*[[Reorganization Group]]
*[[Collaboration with the Axis powers (disambiguation)|Collaboration with the Axis powers]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*David P. Barrett and Larry N. Shyu, eds.; ''Chinese Collaboration with Japan, 1932–1945: The Limits of Accommodation'' Stanford University Press 2001.
*Gerald Bunker, ''The Peace Conspiracy; Wang Ching-wei and the China war, 1937–1941 '' Harvard University Press, 1972.
*James C. Hsiung and Steven I. Levine, eds. ''China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937–1945''  M. E. Sharpe, 1992.
*Ch'i Hsi-sheng, ''Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–1945'' University of Michigan Press, 1982.
*Wen-Hsin Yeh, "Wartime Shanghai", Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
*Rana Mitter, "Forgotten Ally: China's World War II. 1937–1945" Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0618894253}}. Complete re-examination of the Chinese wars with Japan which argues that the memory of 'betrayals' by Britain, America, and Russia continues to influence China's worldview today.
*Zhiyi Yang, "The  Road  to  Lyric  Martyrdom: Reading  the  Poetry  of  Wang  Zhaoming  (1883-‐‑1944)", Chinese  Literature:  Essays,  Articles,  Reviews  37, 2015, https://www.zhiyiyang.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Yang-2015-Road-to-Lyric-Martyrdom.pdf.
*Peter Kien-hong YU/俞劍鴻, WANG Jingwei:  The Unknown Two New Sides/汪精衛：你不知道的真相 (New York: Bouden House/博登書屋, April 2024), and Debunking Social Science (San Francisco: www.Academia.edu., January 2022), (PDF).
*Zhiyi Yang, Poetry, "History, Memory: Wang Jingwei and China in Dark Times", University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, November 2023, https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/76845/9780472903917.pdf.

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Wang_Jingwei.ogg|date=2007-04-11}}
{{Commons category|Wang Jingwei}}
*Japan's Asian Axis Allies: [http://members.optusnet.com.au/~alevrass/Nanking_China.html Chinese National Government of Nanking] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514104436/http://members.optusnet.com.au/~alevrass/Nanking_China.html |date=14 May 2006 }}
*{{PM20|FID=pe/018097}}
*[https://www.wangjingwei.org/ The Wang Jingwei Irrevocable Trust]

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{{succession box| before=''None''| title=[[Wuhan Nationalist government|Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Government]]<br />(rival nationalist government based in Wuhan)| after=''None''| years=1927}}
{{succession box| before=[[Sun Fo]]| title=[[Premier of the Republic of China]]| after= [[Chiang Kai-shek]] |years=1932–1935}}
{{succession box| before=''None''| title=[[President of the Republic of China]]<br />([[Nanjing regime]])| after=[[Chen Gongbo]] |years=1940–1944}}
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