Wang Huning (Chinese:王沪宁;pinyin:Wáng Hùníng; born 6 October 1955) is a Chinese politician who is one of the top leaders of theChinese Communist Party (CCP). He is currently thechairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He has been a leading ideologist in the country since the 1980s. He has been a member of the CCP'sPolitburo Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body within the party between convocations of the Central Committee and the National Congress, since 2017 (19th).
A former academic, Wang was a professor ofinternational politics and dean of the law school atFudan University. During this time, he gained attention due to his belief in "neoauthoritarianism", which held that a strong leadership was needed for China's stability and political reforms. He became a policy author for the CCP leadership in 1995 as a director of a research team at the CCP'sCentral Policy Research Office (CPRO). He became the CPRO's deputy director in 1998, and became a member of the party's Central Committee and director of the office in 2002. He remained in the CPRO until 2020, the longest tenure in the office. As CPRO deputy director and later as director, he was instrumental in developing theThree Represents, a new ideological theory formulated underJiang Zemin's leadership. He continued this work underHu Jintao, and is believed to have had an important role in developing the theories,Scientific Outlook on Development, as well asHarmonious Society. He became a member of theCCP secretariat in 2007, a central leading organ responsible for executing and implementing policy decisions.
Wang became a member of thePolitburo (18th) in 2012, and is believed to have developed close relations with CCP general secretaryXi Jinping, becoming one of his closer associates. In 2017, he was promoted to the 5th-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee and was elected to the Secretariat (19th). He has also chaired leading commissions on ideology and reforms and is believed to have been instrumental in developing key concepts under Xi, includingXi Jinping Thought,Chinese-style modernization, theChinese Dream, and theBelt and Road Initiative. In 2022, he stopped serving in the Secretariat and became the 4th-ranking member of the PSC. He became the CPPCC chairman in March 2023, succeedingWang Yang. He also became the deputy leader of theCentral Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, an internal policy coordination organization onTaiwan policy.
Widely regarded as the "Gray Eminence" of the CCP, Wang is perceived by external observers to be the informal chief ideologue of the CCP as well as the principal architect behind the party's political ideologies since the 1990s. He has held significant positions under threeparamount leaders, a rare occurrence in Chinese politics. Wang believes that a strong, centralized state is needed in China to resist foreign influence, an idea that has been influential under Xi.
Wang was born on 6 October 1955 inNanshi, Shanghai.[2] He traces his heritage toYe County,Shandong province, though he never lived in Shandong. Wang's name, "Huning (沪宁)", literally means "the peace (宁) of Shanghai (沪)", a typical name given by his Red Army parents, who fought in theShanghai Campaign of theChinese Civil War and remained in the city thereafter. As a military official, Wang Huning's father was implicated during the anti–Peng Dehuai campaign launched byMao Zedong and suffered persecution during theCultural Revolution. His mother was hospitalized several times due to illness after 1965, requiring Wang and his two older brothers to look after her. In order to prevent his three sons from dawdling amidst theCultural Revolution, his father locked them inside their home and required them to either copy the manuscript of theSelected Works of Mao Tse-Tung or read books. This experience fostered Wang's calm personality.[3]
During his youth, Wang went to the Shanghai Yongqiang Middle School, where he obtained books that were forbidden from his teachers. After the school opened a mechanic class, Wang participated in it as an apprentice worker. He graduated from this junior high school in 1972.[4] AfterNixon's visit to China, theChinese Communist Party (CCP) found itself lacking diplomats familiar with foreign languages. Following an order by the CCP Central Committee, theShanghai Revolutionary Committee established the Foreign Language Training Class in theFudan University, theShanghai Normal University[note 1] and theShanghai International Studies College, with each university being required to enroll 200 students in the first enrollment year of 1977. Wang was recommended to enter Shanghai Normal University 7 May Cadre School's Foreign Language Training Class to studyFrench with 24 other classmates.[note 2][4][5] The Training Class was first located inDafeng County, Jiangsu Province, where Wang began his study in October 1972. The 7 May Cadre School later moved toFengxian, Shanghai in April 1973.[5]
After his graduation in February 1977,[note 3] he became a cadre at the Shanghai Publishing Bureau. In 1978, he participated in theGraduate Entrance Examination and was admitted as a postgraduate student in the Department of International Politics ofFudan University. His mentor was Chen Qiren, who later recalled Wang was late during the interview for the entrance examination, but he gave Wang a pass due to his excellence in the primary exam.[6] Wang's Master dissertation was "FromBodin toMaritain: A review on the development of the Western sovereignty theory".[7] The thesis was highly approved by the defense committee, which called it "a preliminary attempt by the Chinese academic circles to systematically study bourgeois sovereignty theory".[3] He received aMaster of Laws degree[note 4] in 1981 and stayed in Fudan as an instructor at the Political Science Teaching and Research Department.[8] During this time, he established a close relationship with department director Wang Bangzuo.[9] They were usually referred to as "the two Wang" by their counterparts.[10] According toRadio Free Asia, the theoretical framework for theone country, two systems principle for Hong Kong was first developed by Wang Huning and Wang Bangzuo in an unpublished article in the early 1980s.[11]
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In April 1984, Wang joined the Party. In 1985 at age 29, without first needing to serve as lecturer, Wang was promoted to associate professor ininternational politics, making him China's youngest associate professor at the time.[8] This made him a national figure in China. Young people wrote to him for guidance and asked him to help compile bibliographies, while his superiors often asked him to give reports and talk about his experiences. Regarding his fame Wang told an interview in 1986: "What I want most now is a peaceful and quiet environment, otherwise I will be very depressed. I have to prepare to teach new courses, I am writing two monographs, and I have my own plans. All of these take time."[3] As a teacher, Wang continuously introduced new courses, usually teaching two or three courses per semester, and sometimes teaching four courses at the same time.[12]
During this time he published widely in academic journals, newspapers and magazines, which were read by the intellectual elite.[4] By the end of 1985, Wang had published nearly 80 articles and compiled 700,000 words of materials.[3] He also translatedRobert Dahl'sModern Political Analysis.[13] He was also selected as a special policy researcher by Organization Department of theShanghai Municipal Party Committee, which controls staffing positions within the Municipal Committee, and was the main contributor to the bookIntroduction to Political Science, a key social sciences project during thesixth five-year plan.[14]
In May 1987, he published the bookComparative Political Analysis, in which he proposed the concept "historical-social-cultural analytical framework".[12][13] In 1988, Wang was a visiting scholar in theUnited States for six months, spending the first three months at theUniversity of Iowa, three weeks at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, and visiting many other universities. During his time in the United States, Wang visited over 30 cities and close to 20 universities,[15] and later wrote about his experiences in his bookAmerica Against America.[16] After returning to China, Wang served as director of Fudan University's Department of International Politics from 1989 to 1994, and as dean of the law school in 1994–95.[2]
Wang has been a well-known scholar in academic circles since the 1980s. He wrote columns and essays for literary magazines such asDushu andWorld Economic Herald as well as numerous party-sanctioned publications includingWenhui Bao,Jiefang Daily andGuangming Daily.[11] He was featured on the cover of current affairs magazines such asBanyuetan, attracting the attention of Shanghai's top political leaders,[4] and he was known byJiang Zemin, thenParty secretary of Shanghai.[17] His achievements led to him being selected to participate in the drafting of theoretical documents for the CCP beginning from the13th CCP National Congress in 1987. In 1993, Wang led the Fudan student debate team to participate in a Chinese-language international college debate competition inSingapore. The team won the championship between 1988 and 1993, greatly enhancing Wang's reputation.[4]
On 12 February 1993, Wang established the Fudan University Development Research Institute. During this time, Wang participated in bimonthly seminars organized first by Shanghai mayor Jiang Zemin. The Development Research Institute submitted various reports, including on the1989 revolutions in theEastern Bloc and thepolitical status of Taiwan. Wang was one of the two chief planners, of the China Development Report published by the Development Research Institute at the end of 1993; he was also the chief writer of its political section.[14] Wang's work in the 1990s expressed the position that China should reclaim a sense of Chinese cultural and intellectual autonomy.[18] This drew increased attention from high-standing state-party political leaders.[19] In 1994, he wrote a diary titledPolitical Life, in which he talked about his daily life and thoughts on political and non-political issues.[20]
In the summer of 1994, he participated in the drafting of the documents for the 4th plenary session of the14th Central Committee.[21] During his academic career, Wang was noticed by top Shanghai politiciansZeng Qinghong, the director of theGeneral Office of the CCP Central Committee, andWu Bangguo, theParty Secretary of Shanghai, both of whom were politically close with General Secretary Jiang Zemin. While in Shanghai, Wu considered asking Wang to be a political researcher, an idea he mentioned to Jiang several times after starting to work inBeijing as aVice Premier.[22] When Jiang and Wang first met, Jiang joked "If you don’t come to Beijing again, these people will fall out with me", referring to Zeng and Wu. Jiang, who had heard a lot about Wang and read his works, quoted arguments from Wang's works, pleasantly surprising Wang.[7]
In 1995, Wang was appointed by Jiang to become the head the political research team at theCentral Policy Research Office (CPRO) in Beijing.[17] After being appointed, Wang's first task was drafting the documents for the 5th plenary session for the 15th Central Committee. For the report, Wang wrote about theTwelve Major Relationships, which elaborated on how the CCP will handle the relationship between reform, development, stability and so on.[13] He was often considered to be a key political theorist serving in the Jiang Zemin administration, together with CPRO directorTeng Wensheng and Liu Ji.[23][24][12] He was promoted in April 1998 to be the deputy director of the CPRO,[17] and accompanied Jiang on foreign visits since 1998 as a special assistant to the president.[22][25] He was also part of a team that formulated "Three Represents" that allowed entrepreneurs to join the CCP and which was written into the CCP constitution in 2002.[17]
In 2002, he was elected by the16th Party National Congress as a member of the16th CCP Central Committee, becoming a political functionary. He also succeeded Teng to be the director of the CPRO.[22] In November 2007, Wang was elected to theSecretariat of the Chinese Communist Party (17th). He began accompanying General SecretaryHu Jintao on foreign trips[24] and was considered one of Hu's three most influential secretaries, along withLing Jihua andChen Shiju.[22] Wang is considered to be influential in the development ofScientific Outlook on Development andHarmonious Society, two concepts that originated under Hu's leadership.[17] During this time, he also started working together withXi Jinping; Wang was a member of theCentral Leading Group for Party Building, which Xi started chairing in 2007.[26] Wang led the team that wrote Hu's final report at the18th CCP National Congress.[17] According to Radio Free Asia, Wang proposed twice to the Central Committee about stepping down as the CPRO Director after becoming a member of the Secretariat, but continued serving in the role after theCCP Organization Department could not find anyone to succeed him.[27]
He was elected to thePolitburo of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012 by the18th Central Committee, becoming the first director of the CPRO to hold a seat on the Politburo. He also stopped serving in the CCP Secretariat.[22] Wang worked closely with Xi Jinping after he was elected as the general secretary in November 2012, emerging as one of the central members of Xi's delegation on international trips.[28][29] On 22 January 2014, Wang was appointed as the director of theOffice of theCentral Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission (CCDR), a new CCP body responsible for implementing domestic economic, political, cultural and social reforms.[30] In April 2015, he became the deputy head of the newly-createdBelt and Road Construction Leadership Group, a coordination group to oversee theBelt and Road Initiative.[31]
Wang was elected by the 1st plenary session of the19th Central Committee to be the 5th-ranking member of thePolitburo Standing Committee on 25 October 2017, becoming one of the few members of the body without prior ministerial or provincial experience.[32] He became a member of the19th Secretariat.[33] He was also appointed as a deputy leader of the CCDR.[30] Wang has frequently accompanied Xi in his trips, suggesting involvement in China's diplomacy.[34][35] In September 2017, Wang became a deputy leader of a leading group headed by National People's Congress Standing Committee chairmanZhang Dejiang, which drafted the2018 constitutional amendment.[36] In August 2018, Wang chaired theNational Conference on Publicity and Ideological Work, where Xi delivered a keynote speech.[37] Along with other leading cadre, Wang presided over the development ofXuexi Qiangguo, an app designed to teachXi Jinping Thought.[38]: 29 After the CCP launched the "remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind" educational campaign in May 2019, Wang was appointed as the head of the Central Leading Group.[39] In January 2020, Wang became the deputy leader of the Central Leading Group for Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic, with premierLi Keqiang as the leader.[40][41] He also accompanied Xi to visitingWuhan in March.[42]
Wang was succeeded by Jiang Jinquan as the director of CPRO in 2020.[20] In 2020, he was one of the drafters of the outline of thefourteenth five-year plan.[43] He played a key role in drafting the "third historical resolution" in November 2021, which further consolidated Xi's power.[34] In January 2022, Wang chaired theNational Conference of Publicity Ministers, where he emphasized the importance of Xi Jinping Thought and called on officials to follow the "442 formula", meaning theFour Consciousnesses, theFour Confidences and theTwo Upholds.[44] Wang served as the secretary-general of the20th CCP National Congress and briefed the Party Central Committee on the proposedParty Constitution amendments.[45][46]Reuters reported on 3 March 2023, citing sources, that Wang held a meeting in late October with top medical experts, senior officials and people from the propaganda apparatus, asking them how many deaths an abandonment ofzero-COVID controls would cause in a worst-case scenario and requesting them to devise roadmaps on reopening policies in different paces.[47]
In a preparatory meeting, Wang was elected as the secretary-general of the20th CCP National Congress, which was held in October 2022.[48] He was also one of the deputy directors of the drafting team helping draft Xi's speech for the National Congress.[43] Following the1st plenary session of the20th CCP Central Committee, Wang was elected to the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party as its 4th ranking member, and was stopped serving in the secretariat.[49]
On 17 January 2023, he was elected as a member of the14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's national specialist consultative organ.[50] Though initial reporting before the CCP Congress by theSouth China Morning Post suggested that he was going to become thechairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress,[51] he instead became thechairman of the CPPCC National Committee in March 2023 at the 1st Session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee.[49][52] He also kept his position as the deputy leader of the CCDR.[53] According to aForeign Affairs article byOdd Arne Westad in 2023, Wang is also a member of theCCP National Security Commission and "is perhaps the most influential presence after Xi himself."[54]
In May 2023, Wang visited Xinjiang, including major cities such asÜrümqi andKashgar as well as rural communities, schools, mosques and businesses. In Ürümqi, he visited the a museum, the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, theXinjiang University and some companies, while in Kashgar, he visited theId Kah Mosque and the Mangan village. During the visit, he called for unity amongethnic groups and called on to "plant the seeds of patriotism into everyone, especially the teenagers".[55] During a work conference on Xinjiang in September 2023, Wang called for efforts to develop industrial, education and cultural sectors of Xinjiang, and also stressed the importance of "pairing assistance" programs. He also called for "fostering a strongsense of community of the Chinese nation".[56] In December 2023, Wang spoke at the 11th National Chinese Christian Congress, where he called on theThree-Self Patriotic Movement and theChina Christian Council to "adhere to the direction of Sinicization of Christianity" and "interpret the doctrines that conform to the development and progress requirements of contemporary China, the core values of socialism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture".[57]
In 2024, he was a deputy head to the Xi-led drafting committee that wrote the resolutions of the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee in July 2024.[43] At a plenary meeting of the CPPCC in July 2024, Wang called for boosting thedual circulation strategy.[58] In December 2024, he visited theChina Tibetology Research Center in Beijing.[59] In January 2025, Wang held a meeting of the CPPCC, where he pledged to support the development of the private sector, saying China "must support the healthy development of the non-public sector and entrepreneurs, and also guide private enterprises and entrepreneurs to strengthen confidence, surmount challenges, and propel growth".[60] In February 2025, he presided over a symposium attended by Xi and private sector leaders includingAlibaba Group founderJack Ma,Huawei founderRen Zhengfei,Unitree Robotics founderWang Xingxing,Will Semiconductor leader Yu Renrong,CATL leaderRobin Zeng,Meituan leaderWang Xing,BYD Company leaderWang Chuanfu,Tencent CEOMa Huateng andDeepSeek founderLiang Wenfeng.[61] In March 2025, Wang held discussions with religious leaders in the CPPCC, where he called on religious activities to be "legal, safe, and orderly."[62]
In July 2025, Wang told a CPPCC meeting that non-CCP groups, including members of theeight minor political parties, industry and commerce representatives, and public figures without party affiliation, to contribute to the debate about increasing consumption, which he called a long-term and healthy goal.[63] In August 2025, Wang joined Xi in attending the60th anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region, where he gave a speech praising the CCP's leadership in the region.[64] In September 2025, Wang joined Xi in attending the70th anniversary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where he gave a speech praising CCP policies regarding Xinjiang.[65] In November 2025, Wang met with German Vice ChancellorLars Klingbeil.[66] In the same month, he declared the2025 National Games of China officially closed[67] and visited theShenzhen Municipal Party Committee.[68] In December 2025, Wang visited Laos to attended celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, where he met with Lao People's Revolutionary Party General Secretary and PresidentThongloun Sisoulith.[69] He also visited Indonesia, where he met with Indonesian PresidentPrabowo Subianto and Speaker of the House of RepresentativesPuan Maharani.[70] In the same month, he met members of theBuddhist Association of China, calling on them to "listen to the Party and follow the Party".[71]
In January 2023, Wang became the deputy leader of theCentral Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, placing him in charge ofpolitical relations with Taiwan.[72] He is tasked with laying the groundwork forunification with Taiwan, coming up with a theory that replaces "one country, two systems" to serve as a metric to measure progress toward China's unification goals.[73] On 10 February, he met withAndrew Hsia, vice chairman of theKuomintang, Taiwan's main opposition party.[74] During the visit, Wang said that "Taiwan independence is incompatible with peace and runs counter to the well-being of Taiwan compatriots".[74] Wang also met withLiu Chao-shiuan, president of the Council of the Summit for Entrepreneurs Across the Taiwan Strait, in April, andWu Cherng-dean, chairman of theNew Party, in June.[75] In the same month, at theStraits Forum Wang unveiled a plan to transform Fujian province into ademonstration zone for "Taiwan’s economic integration into China".[76] On 11 September, he was chosen as the president of theChina Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, a body designed to advance unification with Taiwan; the CPPCC chairman also generally serves as the president of the council.[77] In December 2023, Taiwanese officials told reporters convened Wang a meeting to coordinate efforts across various departments to influence the2024 Taiwanese presidential election.[78]
In February 2024, Wang spoke at the Taiwan Work Conference, where he said China "must resolutely fight ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism" and "further grasp the strategic initiative to achieve the complete unification of the motherland".[79] On 10 April, he was one of the officials that met former Taiwanese PresidentMa Ying-jeou during hismeeting with Xi.[72] On 27 April, he met with a Kuomintang delegation led byFu Kun-chi, the Majority Leader in theLegislative Yuan, Taiwan's legislature, in Beijing.[80] He attended the Straits Forum in June 2024, where he said the "historic trend of China’s renaissance and reunification is unstoppable".[81] In August, he sent a congratulatory to the Overseas Chinese World Conference for Promoting Peaceful Reunification of China held inHong Kong, praising the efforts of Chinese in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas in advocating against Taiwanese independence.[82] In February 2025, he attended a work conference on Taiwan affairs, where he called on China to "shape the inevitable reunification of the motherland".[83] In June 2025, he attended the Straits Forum, where he again met with Ma Ying-jeou.[84] In October 2025, Wang attended an event to mark the newly-establishedCommemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration.[85]
In February 2026, he met with Kuomintang vice chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen, where he said that the CCP was willing to strengthen exchanges with Taiwan's political parties and civil groups on the basis of the 1992 Consensus and opposition to Taiwan independence, and advocated for the principle that "both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family".[86] In the same month, Wang addressed the annual Taiwan Work Conference, where he said it is necessary to "firmly support the patriotic pro-unification forces on the island, resolutely strike against 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces, oppose interference by external forces, and safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait".[87]
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Wang has been called China's "chief ideologue" by external observers[88][34] and is thought to be influential in the development of the political ideas published under the names of threeCCP leaders: Three Represents of Jiang Zemin,[23] theScientific Outlook on Development of Hu Jintao,[24] andXi Jinping Thought.[33] He is also believed to play a key role in drafting concepts including theHarmonious Society, Chinese Dream,Chinese-style modernization,[89] and the Belt and Road Initiative.[90] According to theSouth China Morning Post, Xi "regularly asks for Wang’s input on his major speeches and statements".[43]
During his tenure as a professor in the 1980s, Wang initially gained attention for his advocacy ofneoauthoritarianism, the view that a centralized government is necessary to maintain economic growth and stability, which could later slowly do political reforms from within,[33][91] though Wang has rejected the label, saying "the Communist Party can only accept one doctrine,Marxism–Leninism".[7][92] While in Fudan, Wang took an interest in the economic development of theFour Asian Tigers, particularly of Singapore.[92] After the1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and thedissolution of the Soviet Union, Wang, along with other academics that favored neoauthoritarianism, proposed a new set of ideas which came to be called "neoconservatism", which rejected radical reform in favor of market reforms and upholding the leadership of the CCP.[93]
In his articles, Wang wrote "political systems must adapt to certain historical, social and cultural conditions" and "cannot be transplanted or forced to grow".[12] In regard todemocracy in China, he wrote "the reform of the political system cannot exceed the specific conditions of China at this stage", continuing by saying "developing democracy should be based on the development of productivity. Only in this way can the development of democracy be effective". Wang wrote that he believes there must be a unified and stable leadership to "promote democracy in the whole society through inner-party democracy".[12] During the period ofreform and opening up in the 1980s, Wang wrote that "China’s political culture is undergoing a profound transformation; the traditional, conservative, closed, concentrated, subjective, and arbitrary elements of political culture are transforming into new, open, decentralized, objective, and democratic elements".[94]
In a paper titled "Reflections on the ‘Cultural Revolution’ and Political Reform" published in 1986 in theWorld Economic Herald, he wrote that it is "very important to comply with theconstitution" lest a new Cultural Revolution happen.[95] He also wrote "Aside from historical, social, economic and other causes, the imperfect and incomplete nature of political reforms were a cause that cannot be underestimated". He wrote the Cultural Revolution occurred because the CCP had not "formed a complete set of democratic systems" including a "system of division" between the Party and government, theNational People's Congress was unable to exercise its powers, and there was no independent judicial system, a vertical decentralization in the political system, a national public servant system or a system to protect the right of citizens.[96] As a solution, Wang proposes the CCP use "political projects" to create a further fusion of social and political life and to strengthen the CCP technologically.[97]
In 1986, Wang wrote an article in which he argued that central power must be concentrated in the reform process and that the government should be relied upon to advance further economic reform. The article caused a debate in the Shanghai intellectual community, which debated the role of government centralization in the process of national modernization, and was seen as the theoretical embryo of neoauthoritarianism.[12] His political views changed after his visit to the U.S., after which he advocated for a centralized one-party state that was culturally unified and self-confident to resist the influence of liberal ideas.[98] In a 1995 interview, he said that "[i]n a place without central authority, or a place where central authority has become weakened, the country would be mired in a state of division and chaos," and that "[a] strong central authority is the fundamental guarantee for achieving rapid and stable development at a relatively low cost during the process of modernization."[26]
In his 1988 essay "The Structure of China's Changing Political Culture", Wang said that the CCP must reconsider how a nation's "software", meaning culture, values, and attitudes, shaped its "hardware", meaning economics, systems, and institutions. Some sources have attributed this type of thought to be "a daring break from thematerialism ofOrthodox Marxism."[98] Wang said that China was under a great transformation from a "culturally oriented political culture" which was guided by political mobilization to an "institutionally oriented political economy" led by economic mobilization, but the new model under thesocialism with Chinese characteristics was leaving China with no core values, which "could serve only to dissolve societal and political cohesion". He says China passed through three stages in its development culture, traditional, modern, and Marxist-socialist, but none of led to the removal of structures preceding them, meaning China was still an "unformed state" that didn't have a "proper identity". Wang also said that the introduction of Marxism to China was not completely positive, and that while the CCP criticized China's historical values since 1949, it did not give enough regard to creating and shaping its own core values.[98][99]
In the essay, he recommends that China combine and "re-engineer" its historical and modern values (including foreign Marxist values) to create a "synchronic" culture.[98][99] He implies that as the Chinese population becomes more aware of the political socialization process, it will lead to the emergence of a new value system. He says China's political development will be the "fundamental basis for the construction of democratic politics in China" and "an important condition for the socialist system to demonstrate its superiority". He says there is a necessity for "the components of the modern structure that embody the spirit of modern democracy and humanism" to "take root and grow" and says "in the specific context of China's reform and opening, China's political culture needs to add elements in the areas of participation, democracy, consultation, equality, rights, responsibility, competition, and the rule of law."[99]
Wang has also written China's first academic paper on "soft power", and has been thought to be the driving force in China's investments in promoting its culture overseas.[17] In 1994, in his essay titled "Cultural Expansion and Cultural Sovereignty: A Challenge to the Concept of Sovereignty", Wang argued that after the end of theCold War, "culture conflict" surpassed political and military conflicts as the greatest threats to state sovereignty. He wrote that "hard power" conflicts have been reduced and replaced by "soft power", including one that is "counter-hegemonic", with non-Western countries against Western "cultural hegemony", as well as the rise of nationalism between or within countries. He writes "Western countries are increasingly employing their cultural strength to constrain or influence world affairs and the process of internal developments of developing countries". He writes that as a reaction, "cultural sovereignty" emerged. He says struggle over culture is a form of "political struggle", meaning it was necessary to defend China's political system. He writes that while China must protect its cultural sovereignty, he says this must not mean an adoption of "cultural isolation", which he says "inevitably becomes archaic and obsolete".[100]
In 1991, after his visit to the U.S., Wang wrote the bookAmerica Against America.[16] The book talked about the increasing challenges he saw in the U.S., such as inequality, economic conflicts, decaying of social values and commodification.[98] He also praised the strengths of the U.S., such as its modernity[101] and was described byThe Economist as "seeing the weaknesses in America's system, but not exaggerating them".[20] In Wang's own words:
My intention with this title is to show that America contains contradictions that cannot be dismissed with a single sentence. In the old days, people had a dogmatic view of American society as merely the "exploitation of surplus value," a "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie," and nothing more. Now there is another extreme, some people imagine the United States as a paradise, rich and without flaw. In fact American society doesn’t match either of these descriptions, and often finds itself in fundamental contradiction with them. There are strengths and weaknesses, and wherever strength can be found, weakness can also be found. America is a contradiction, it contains multitudes. This is what I mean by "America Against America."[102]
Wang has been described by former colleagues as an insomniac and workaholic, introverted, discreet and "almost obsessively low-profile."[17] After entering into politics in the 1990s, he cut off most contact with his academic colleagues.[98] Having studied French as an undergraduate, Wang is a fluent French speaker.[8] He is also an avid reader ofWuxia novels.[22] In his memoirPolitical Life, Wang said his goal in life was to keep writing books and teaching students.[51]
Wang has two older brothers.[3] Wang's first marriage, to Zhou Qi, an international relations expert atChinese Academy of Social Sciences andRenmin University of China, ended in divorce after he went toZhongnanhai in 1996. They had no children. He later married a nurse in Zhongnanhai. They have one child.[8]
Having worked closely with three consecutive paramount leaders, Wang demonstrated a rare and remarkable ability to retain influence under leaders belonging to various Communist Party factions.[98] He has been regarded as the "Gray Eminence" of the CCP.[98][103] Additionally, he has been described as "China'sKissinger" byThe Hankyoreh,[104] and is calledguóshī (Chinese:国师) by Chinese netizens, a title historically given to top religious leaders in Imperial China.[101]
Wang's books includeThe Logic of Politics—The Principles of Marxist Political Science,General Introduction to New Politics,Analysis of Modern Western Politics,Analysis of Comparative Politics andDebate Contest in Lion City, all in Chinese. Others include (all in Chinese):
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