Wei Wenbo

Wei Wenbo
魏文伯
2nd Minister of Justice of the People's Republic of China
In office 13 September 1979 – 4 May 1982
Preceded by	Shi Liang
Succeeded by	Liu Fuzhi
Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
In office 22 December 1978 – 11 September 1982
Secretary	Chen Yun
Member of the Central Advisory Commission
In office 1983–1985
Chairman	Deng Xiaoping
Vice Minister of Justice
In office December 1952 – February 1955
Minister	Shi Liang
Personal details
Born	魏去非 Wèi Qùfēi (1905-03-09)March 9, 1905 Huanggang, Hubei Province, Qing Dynasty
Died	November 15, 1987(1987-11-15) (aged 82) Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Spouse	Li Jingyi (李静一)
Children	5
Education	Wuchang Chunghua University (Affiliate High School)
Alma mater	Beiping Yuwen University
Occupation	Politician, revolutionary, lawyer, poet

Wei Wenbo (Chinese: 魏文伯; pinyin: Wèi Wénbó; 1905–1987) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician who played an extensive role in the building of China's legal system. He was also one of East China's most senior party leaders before being purged in the Cultural Revolution, and was rehabilitated in 1979.^[1][2][3]

Wei was born into a moderately rich peasant family in Xinzhou County (then part of Huanggang), Hubei, China on the 9th of March, 1905.^[3] In 1925, he joined Communist Youth League of China and organised a farmers' union in his hometown. He then joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in August of 1926. His activities as the Organisation Department head of his local party branch included leading the workers of Yangluo in demanding better working conditions and organising an armed workers' self-defence team.^[4][5]

In 1927, Wei gave up his opportunity to study in the Soviet Union following the failure of the July 15 Incident, transferred his self defence team and farmers' union's arms and resources to He Long's army and proceeded to join the Nanchang Uprising. After the uprising's failure, he escaped to his native province and continued the underground struggle during the country's white terror in Yichang.^[5]

In 1929, Wei was admitted Beiping Yuwen University's political science school and subsequently involved himself in student revolutionary activities in Beiping (now Beijing), becoming the Secretary of the university's underground party branch. He then served as the Secretary-General of the CCP's Beiping Municipal Committee in 1930.^[4][5] During his time in Beiping, he was arrested three times by Kuomintang forces.^[3]

In the summer of 1933, Wei joined Feng Yuxiang's Counter-Japanese Army on the party's orders, serving as the Secretary of its Military Committee.^[4] In 1936, he covertly joined the Northeastern Army in Xi'an on the party's orders. He actively promoted Mao Zedong's anti-Japanese national united front policy as the propaganda member of the Northeast Army Party Working Committee, and supported the Communists in the Xi'an Incident.^[3][4][5]

In the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wei organised preparations for resistance efforts against the invading Japanese forces as the Party Committee Secretary for Yingshan County within his native province after returning from Shaanxi. He became the Chief of the United Front Section of the Jiangbei (江北) Command Post of the New Fourth Army in November of 1939.^[6]

In 1940, Liu Shaoqi founded Central China's first-ever Anti-Japanese Democratic Government (抗日民主政府), The Dingyuan Anti-Japanese Democratic Government. Liu immediately appointed Wei who concurrently served as the Magistrate of Communist-controlled Dingyuan County and the Director of the Dingyuan-Fengyang-Chuxian Joint Administrative Office, making him the first leader of a county-level Anti-Japanese Democratic Government in China.^[4][7][8] During this time, he was actively involved in mobilisation efforts, building the Communist government's legitimacy and preaching its pro-resistance positions.^[4]

In September 1941, Wei became both the Deputy Director and Party Group Secretary of the Office for Mutual Defence of the Areas West of the Tianjin–Pukou railway. He was simultaneously elected as the President of the Assembly of the Anti-Japanese Base Areas West of Tianjin-Pukou railway. In May 1942, the first and second sessions of the Assembly were held, during which 9 decrees and 17 resolutions were passed, including the 'Interim Measures for Preferential Treatment of Families of Anti-Japanese Soldiers', thus increasing the unity and fervour of the Chinese resistance movement.^[4][6]

In the summer of 1944, Wei went to Yan'an to study in the Central Party School as part of the Yan'an Rectification Movement, while working as a Propaganda Committee member of the Party Branch. After completing his studies, he went on to serve as Deputy Director and Party Secretary of the Wanjiang (Southern Anhui) Administrative Office.^[4][5]

Following the continuation of the Chinese Civil War in 1946, Wei served as the Leader and Secretary-General of the Civil Affairs Department of the CCP Central Committee's East China Bureau, among other positions in the Bureau.^[8]

After the Founding of the People's Republic of China, he successively served as the Secretary-General of the CCP Central Committee's East China Bureau, Deputy Director and Party Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of the East China Military and Political Committee and Procurator-General of the East China branch of the People's Procurator-General's Office. In 1952, he founded and became the President of the East China University of Political Science and Law.^[3][9]

In November 1952, Wei was appointed as Vice Minister of Justice as well as the Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Justice. He was simultaneously made Secretary of the Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Justice's Joint Party Group.^[5] As Party Group Secretary, Wei exercised the party's control over the Ministry due to then Minister Shi Liang not being a member of the CCP. However, Wei and Shi possessed a strong working relationship and sense of trust, consulting each other frequently on all Ministry related matters. After thorough discussions with Shi, Wei personally led the Ministry's personnel in drafting the Organic Law of the People's Courts of the People's Republic of China among other bills, helping set the foundation of China's judicial system. A law pamphlet written by Wei around this time also earned him the praise of Mao Zedong, who ordered it to be published widely.^[3]

Wei was transferred to the Shanghai Government in 1955. In the same year, Wei was appointed as the Deputy Director of the CCP Central Committee's Leading Small Group for Schistosomiasis Control, before becoming the Leading Small Group's Director later on.^[3][5] He acted as the chief spokesperson of the Chinese government's efforts to eradicate Schistosomiasis, which plagued rural China at the time, coordinating medical and research efforts and partook in many on-the-ground efforts over a period of ten years, playing an important role in the disease's eradication in China.^[5][10] Wei was known to have written his own poem pertaining to the disease's prevention methods to boost the awareness of its prevention among the Chinese populace. The poem is known as 《送瘟神三字经》in Chinese (Lit. 'The Three-Character Classic for Sending Away the Plague God').^[11][12][13]

Wei's time in the Shanghai Municipal Government saw him serve as Secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP Shanghai Municipal Committee and Vice Chairman of the Shanghai CPPCC.^[5][6]

In 1961, Wei's work was transferred to the CCP Central Committee's East China Bureau again. He concurrently served as the Bureau's Alternate Secretary and Secretary-General before becoming Secretary of the Secretariat of the Bureau. Ke Qingshi's death in 1965 left the positions of Mayor of Shanghai and both the 'First Secretary' positions the East China Bureau and Shanghai Party Committee empty. Consequently, Wei became the de-facto First Secretary while his comrades Chen Pixian and Cao Diqiu took over as Shanghai's First Secretary and Mayor respectively. Despite the 'First Secretary' position being left vacant until the Bureau's eventual destruction. Thus official sources from after the Cultural Revolution name Wei as the Bureau's Secretary (中共中央华东局书记).^[5][14]

In 1967, Wei was completely ousted from power during the January Storm along with the rest of the Municipal Committee by the Gang of Four, leaving the East China Bureau defunct. Wei was subject to public humiliation in the form of struggle sessions, and was branded as a 'traitor' by the Gang. The Cultural Revolution also saw much of Wei's work to eliminate Schistosomiasis repudiated, describing his methods as poisoning the people similar to how the disease infected the people. A 1970 edition of the People's Daily denounced Wei as a 'hanjian' and a 'labour traitor' in conjunction with President Liu Shaoqi, describing him as Liu's agent in spreading the 'expert line' in combatting the epidemic and deceiving the people. He spent much of the Cultural Revolution under house arrest as a result.^[3][15]

By 1979, Wei was thoroughly rehabilitated by the party and resumed work by joining Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, serving as a Deputy Secretary (副书记) and Secretary-General (秘书长) starting from December 1978 before being appointed as the Minister of Justice in September of 1979.^[1] Wei's tenure as the Justice Minister was marked by the Trial of the Gang of Four and the restoration of China's damaged legal system.^[3] Following his rehabilitation, he was also a representative to the 12th National Congress of the CCP, and a member of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC).^[9] Wei was also part of his old comrade Liu Shaoqi's funeral committee which formed in May of 1980.^[16]

After retiring from his major posts in 1982, he was chosen to serve on the Central Advisory Commission (CAC) in October of 1983, and was invited to the 13th National Congress of the CCP.^[9]

Wei had suffered from strokes as early as 1980, as a result of overworking himself, feeling the need to make up for lost time after a decade of imprisonment.^[3] He initiated a proposal for his withdrawal from the CAC in 1985 at a party conference. He attended the 13th National Congress of the CCP as a special invitee despite his deteriorating health.^[9][5]

Wei Wenbo died in Shanghai due to illness on the 15th of November, 1987, aged 82. His ashes were transferred to Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery,^[5] though two other graves/memorials dedicated to him were erected in following years, one being in Shanghai's Qingpu district, and another in his hometown of Xinzhou which is currently designated by the local Government as an 'immovable cultural site'.^[17]

Wei was a widely respected Chinese calligrapher. Chinese calligraphy had been his hobby since childhood. He was chosen to serve twice as an Honorary Director of the Chinese Calligraphers Association. His works have been selected for major calligraphy exhibitions both in China and abroad (notably Japan) and have been published in newspapers and magazines many times. They are collected or engraved in many museums, memorial halls and scenic spots across China.^[18]

Wei was also an educator. He first started teaching when he opened an elementary school in his hometown right after graduating from high school himself in the mid 1920s. Aside from founding the ECUPL, he also served as the President of the Shanghai Institute of Socialism and taught political courses at Fudan University's Department of Law in 1958.^[6]

Wei had his name changed multiple times throughout his life, not unlike many other Chinese revolutionaries. Wei's earliest name was Wei Qufei (魏去非). Wei changed his name to Wei Xinmin (魏新民) some time during his early revolutionary days, and it was in 1940 when Liu Shaoqi bestowed Wei the new given name of Wenbo (文伯),^[7] though he was also known by the name Wei Lei (魏雷) during wartime.

He was married to fellow Chinese Communist revolutionary Li Jingyi (李静一). They had five children together. Li was notably a relative of Qing Dynasty official Li Hongzhang.^[19]