Wang Jiaxiang (1906-1974)

Staunch Marxist; an outstanding proletarian revolutionary; one of the excellent leaders of the CPC and the People's Liberation Army of China; one of the pioneers of the CPC and New China's foreign relations.

Courtesy name Jiaxiang, also known as Jia Qiang, he was a native of Houan Village, Taohuatan Town, Jing County, Anhui Province. He attended in Senior High School of Wuhu St. Jacob Middle School in 1924. In June 1925, he was expelled for participating in the patriotic student movement. In August, he entered the third grade of the high school affiliated to the Shanghai University. In September, he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League. In November, he went to Soviet Union to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. In February 1928, he became a member of the Communist Party of China. Returning to Shanghai in March 1930, he served as an officer of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC and edited the Party newspaper.

In January 1931, he served as secretary-general of the Party Committee of the CPC Central Committee and editor-in-chief of Red Flag and Truth. In April 1931, he became member of the Standing Committee of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of the Communist Party of China, director of the Political Security Department of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area, and director of the General Political Department of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants of China. During the Long March in 1935, he made great contributions to the preparation, convening and implementation of the resolutions of the Zunyi Conference. Mao Zedong said many times that Wang Jiaxiang contributed a lot in the history of the Party.

He gave "a key vote" at the Zunyi Conference. In July 1943, he put forward the scientific concept of "Mao Zedong Thought" for the first time in his article "The Road of the CPC and China's National Liberation". In September 1947, he became a member of the Northeast Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Urban Work of the Liberated Areas. In August 1948 he became a member of the Northeast Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and acting minister of the Publicity Department of the Northeast Bureau. In July 1949, as a member of the Communist Party delegation, he visited the Soviet Union to discuss the preparation of an embassy. After the founding of New China, he became the first ambassador to the Soviet Union and vice-minister of foreign affairs.

From 1951 on, he served as Minister of Foreign Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee for a long time and participated in the formulation and implementation of many important foreign policy decisions made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. In February 1962, together with Liu Ningyi and Wu Xiuquan, he wrote letters to Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yi in order to "tide over difficulties or reduce them, at least not to increase the existing difficulties, so as to speed up our socialist construction" and put forward suggestions on dealing with international relations between China, the Soviet Union, and the United States. During the “Cultural Revolution”, he suffered severe persecution. Unfortunately, he died in Beijing on January 25, 1974. His main works are collected in Selected Works of Wang Jiaxiang.