World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseWang Picheng (Wade-Giles romanization: Wang Bi-chen) was born in Ruichang County, Jiangxi Province, China in 1900. In 1927, he joined the Nationalist military forces. In the following year, he saw action during the 1926-1928 Northern Expedition campaign. In 1932, as the commanding officer of an engineering company, he saw action in the first battle of Shanghai. He married Song Jingying around this time, with whom he would have a daughter and two sons. In the 1930s, he was sent abroad to attend courses at the Japanese Army Academy, the German Army engineering school at München (Munich), and the United States Army Command and General Staff College. In 1938, after the passing of Song, he married Wang Luli in Moscow, China, with whom he would have three sons and a daughter; at this time, Wang Picheng was a military attaché to the Soviet Union while Wang Luli was on the clerical staff of the Chinese embassy. In 1938, he was promoted to the rank of major general. During WW2, he held several staff positions. In early 1945, he was sent to the United States as a military liaison officer. While in Washington DC, United States, he suffered acute appendicitis and cholecystitis; physicians at Walter Reed Hospital nearly gave up on him, but Wang's visiting friend, Huang Chaoqin of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, was able to convince the doctors to continue the efforts to keep him alive after the seemingly failed surgery, thus saving Wang's life. In Sep 1945, he was present at the Japanese surrender at the Chinese capital of Nanjing; one of the three swords surrendered by General Yasuji Okamura was ultimately given to Wang (the other two came into the possession of Chiang Kaishek and He Yingqing). In 1946, Wang was named the head of the Chinese representative of the Allied occupation command in Japan; concurrently, he was also the commanding officer of the 100-some Chinese military personnel stationed in post-war Japan. He returned to China in the late 1940s. In 1948, he was given a ceremonial sword with engravings of words written by Chiang. In 1949, he and his family boarded SS Zhongxing, one of the final passenger liners to depart mainland China, which was being taken over by the Chinese Communist forces. In Taiwan, he first served as a commanding officer of a training unit, then between 1952 and 1963 he served as a senior logistics officer of the Army of the Republic of China. In 1962, he was accidentally washed aboard of a warship while supervising Chinese Army scientists in the South China Sea Islands; he was rescued promptly, but his subsequent poor health led him to be placed on the reserve list. In 1963, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general; the fact that he was promoted only once in the 14 years of active service after the Republic of China government's relocation to Taiwan was said to be the result of his opposition to Chiang's wish to one day take back mainland China by force. In 1974, Wang officially retired from the Chinese Army. On 6 Jan 2003, Wang Luli passed away from heart and kidney failure at the age of 102.

Wang Picheng Timeline