Wang Ching-wei [key], 1883–1944, Chinese revolutionary and political leader. A supporter of Sun Yat-sen, Wang was sentenced (1910) to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate the regent of China. Freed in 1912, he studied in France until 1917, when he became personal assistant to Sun. Upon Sun's death (1925) Wang became chairman of the national government, though he remained in conflict with Chiang Kai-shek, who led the military and the right-wing of the Kuomintang. In uneasy truce, he served as premier (1932–35) and deputy leader of the Kuomintang (1938). Wang broke with Chiang in 1938, advocating peace with Japan and continued struggle against the Communists. From 1940 to his death he was premier of the Japanese puppet government at Nanjing.
See study by G. E. Bunker (1972).
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