Wang Shitai (Chinese: 王世泰) (March 17, 1910 – March 14, 2008) was a People's Republic of China politician. He was born in Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province. He was governor of Gansu Province, chairman of the Gansu People's Congress, and twice CPPCC Committee chairman of Gansu. He was a delegate to the 1st National People's Congress (1954–1959), 5th National People's Congress (1978–1983) and 6th National People's Congress (1983–1988).
Biography
Born to a peasant family in Shaanxi Province, Wang Shitai joined the Communist Youth League in 1927 and participated in the failed Weihua Uprising against Nationalist forces in 1928.[1]
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wang commanded the 8th Route Army's 4th Regiment (1937–1942) in Ningxia, pioneering mobile guerrilla tactics in arid regions. His desert warfare strategies were later cited in Mao Zedong's 1942 treatise On Protracted War as a model of adaptive logistics. Promoted to deputy commander of the Northwest Field Army in 1947, he directed critical supply lines during the Yulin Campaign in 1949, which secured Communist dominance in Shaanxi.[2][3]
Following the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, Wang served consecutively as Governor of Gansu Province (1950–1954), Vice Minister of Railways where he supervised the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway construction (1954–1960),[4] and Director of the State Planning Commission's Northwest Bureau (1960–1966).[5] His administrative career was interrupted in 1967 when he was purged during the Cultural Revolution for alleged associations with Peng Dehuai's faction, leading to six years of political imprisonment.[6]
Rehabilitated in 1978, Wang advised on regional development policies through the Central Advisory Commission until retiring in 1987. His memoir Northwest Dust (1985) provides technical accounts of wartime logistics but avoids commentary on intra-Party conflicts. Historians note this cautious narrative reflects Wang's precarious position between Maoist and Peng Dehuai-aligned factions.[7]
Wang married educator and women's rights advocate Wei Nai in 1940, with their archived correspondence at the Yan'an Revolutionary Museum documenting the personal costs of military-political service. He died in Beijing in 1997, with obituaries emphasizing his “endurance through revolutionary storms.”[8]
References
- ^ 洛南县地方志编纂委员会 (1999). 洛南县志. Luonan Xian zhi (in Chinese). 作家出版社. p. 392. ISBN 978-7-5063-1708-5. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ 第一野战军: 彭德怀麾下的14个军230位将军. 四大野战军丛书 (in Chinese). 国防大学出版社. 1996. p. 19. ISBN 978-7-5626-0757-1. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ 中国人民解放军第一野战军征战日志. Di yi ye zhan jun zhan shi cong shu (in Chinese). 解放军出版社. 2001. p. 105. ISBN 978-7-5065-4068-1. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ 神州大动脉: 中国铁路建设一百二十年纪实. 长篇报告文学 (in Chinese). 福建人民出版社. 1996. p. 433. ISBN 978-7-211-02834-4. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ 中国共产党. 中央组织部; 中共中央党史硏究室; 中央档案馆 (2000). 中国共产党组织史资料: 附卷3. 中国人民政治协商会议组织, 1949.10-1997.9 (in Chinese). 中共党史出版社. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ 領導中國的新人物: 中共十六屆政治局常委. 《中國掌權者》系列 (in Chinese). 明鏡出版社. 2003. p. 767. ISBN 978-1-932138-06-1. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ 《中华人民共和国日史》 编委会 (2003). 中华人民共和国日史 (in Chinese). 四川人民出版社. p. 74. ISBN 978-7-220-06468-5. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ "纪念王世泰同志诞辰100周年座谈会在兰州举行—甘肃党史网". 甘肃党史网 (in Chinese). 2010-06-02. Retrieved 2025-02-09.