Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Wang Chao-ming

Mr. Henri Waung

汪兆銘字精衛

(Wang Chao-ming)

Mr. Henri Waung was born at Canton in 1885. His native province is Chekiang. In his youth he studied in the Hsueh Hai Tang, a famous old institute of learning, at Canton, and specialized in the study of the history of China from which he imbibed the idea of racial independence. When he was sixteen, Mr. Waung went to Japan and studied Political Science and Sociology in Tokyo Law College where he later graduated. There he received the idea of democracy. While Mr. Waung was in Japan, Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the late Huang Hsing organized the Tung Ming Hui in Tokyo. Mr. Waung attended the first conference of this organization and was elected a member of the Executive Council, and later elected chairman. At the same time he was engaged to be the editor of the Ming Pao, Tung Ming Hui's organ. Through this paper he advocated “A Republic for China" Doctrine. He personally paticipated in the uprisings of the revolutionary forces at Kuangtung and Kuangsi led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Subsequently Mr. Waung went to the South Sea Islands. To every Chinese immigrant he met there, he preached the Revolutionary Doctrine. As a result, large sums of money were collected from the Chinese as voluntary contributions toward the Revolutionary Cause. In March 1911 Mr. Waung smuggled himself to Peking where he worked in cooperation with several friends in an attempt to assassinate the Prince Regent, Father of the Boy Emperor Hsuan Tung. A big bomb with a time-fuse had been placed under the brigade at the throne of the Regent's Palace. However, it was discovered by a sentinel. The whole city of Peking was searched for the guilty persons which resulted in the arrest of Mr. Waung and his accomplices. Mr. Waung was tried personally by Prince Shan Ch’i, then president of the Board of Civil Administration. During the trial a long written statement was found in his pocket entitled “Determination of Revolution." In December 1911 a Peace Conference was held at Shanghai between the Revolutionary government's representatives headed by the late Dr. Wu Ting-fang and the delegation of the Manchu House headed by Tang Sao-i. Mr. Waung was of the Revolutionary representatives and was the author of the articles for the Provision of Pensions for the defunct Ching Family. After the establishment of the Republic in 1912, Mr. Waung was elected Tutuh of Kuangtung. This he declined. He also refused to accept the offer by Yuan Shih-kai of the post of Minister of Justice at Peking. His argument was that after having spent several years in revolutionary work and in addition two years in prison, he was nearing intellectual starvation and therefore in need of a few more years of study before he could be of any service to the country. Subsequently Mr. Waung went to France where he studied Sociology and Literature. Upon leaving China he told his friends that should the country face any crisis he would return immediately considering it to be a moral obligation to which he must respond. While in France, Mr. Waung helped in the organization of the Learning and Labor Society for Chinese, the Sino-Franco Educational Association, and many magazines. While the Paris Conference was called in 1919, the Canton Military government intended to appoint Mr. Waung as special delegate to attend the Conference because he was the first man who had advocated the participation in the European War by China. He declined the offer on account of his determination never to becoine an official. However, he went to France unofficially and subsequently wrote a book entitled “The World and China after the Paris Conference.” Since 1920 Mr. Woung has been interesting himself in educational works. In the capacity of the president of the Kuangtung Provincial E lucational Association, he introduced in the National Educational Conferense a plan for the reform of Chinese Eudcational System which was eventually adopted.