Wang Chonghui was a legendary figure of significant influence in the history of modern China and the world. During the time of the Republic of China, he was well known in the political and academic world. He was granted the first university diploma in the history of modern China, and as a scholar, he was a “master” in both western and traditional Chinese studies, accomplished in the fields of constitutional law, criminal law, civil law and international law.
Wang Chonghui was the first to specialize in Chinese Law and worked in the International Court of Justice, The Hague. He also assisted with drafting the Charter of the United Nations. He was acknowledged internationally in the field of law, and considered one of the founding fathers of Chinese law in the 20th Century. As a politician, he served temporarily as the Premier of the Republic of China, and then for an extended period as the Foreign Minister and Chief Justice of the republic government. Wang Chonghui was virtuous in life, an outstanding scholar, and successful in his career. If the Chinese traditional ideas of “setting moral standards/defining virtue ethics/being virtuous role model, making contributions, composing works of value” are used in the evaluation of the achievements in a person’s lifetime , Wang Chonghui is one of the very few who had reached the highest standards in all three criteria valued in the history of modern China.
Wang Chonghui, (also known as, Liangchou) was from Dongguan, Guangdong, his ancestral home, and was born into a Christian family in Hong Kong in 1881. He went to a Christian school and laid a solid foundation in western learning. At the same time, under the guidance of his father, he studied at home with Zhou Songshi and learnt the Confucius classics, including the Analects and Mencius, and therefore built a solid foundation in traditional Chinese education. In 1895, when Peiyang University recruited in Hong Kong, Wang Chonghui, with excellent grades, was admitted to study law at an upper level Class 4.
Peiyang University was a typical “western” style institution in which the teaching staff were invited from abroad In addition, the curriculum was also introduced from the western countries. As an example, the law, curriculum included twenty courses, such as English, Geometry, Chemistry, Astronomy, Elements of International Law, Business Rules, and Civil Procedure Law, and all text books used were English editions. In Peiyang University, Wang Chonghui, well equipped with both western and Chinese education, set sail on his lifelong career of learning.
In 1899, Wang Chonghui, an excellent scholar graduated and received his diploma, the first university diploma in the modern history of China. In 1901, he went to Yale University and later received his doctoral degree in law. Upon graduation, he continued to study public international law and acquired his legal qualification in Great Britain. He traveled to Europe and visited France and Germany, observed and studied constitutional law in different countries, and joined the Society of Comparative Law in Berlin.
What best demonstrated Wang Chonghui’s solid academic capacity was his translation into English of the German Civil Code which was published in 1907 by the famous Stevens and Sons, Ltd. in London. The English version soon received recognition and positive reviews in the field of international law, and became a textbook widely adopted by universities in Europe and America, which helped him rise to fame in the western world of law, and acclamation of his academic importance in the field. Up until 1970s, the English version of the German Civil Code was still one of the classic textbooks in USA.
When Nixon visited Taiwan in 1970s, he required, right after he landed, a visit to Doctor Wang Chonghui to pay homage. The story was that Nixon was born around the time of the publication of the English version of the German Civil Code, which was also the textbook used when he went to university. Wang Chonghui drafted the declaration in 1904 for Sun Yat-sen and joined Tongmenghui (United League) in 1905 when it was established.
Wang Chonghui was influential in the western world of law and led a promising career. However, he gave up his comfortable life and promising career, and returned to China to join the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. He received Sun Yat-sen to establish the Nanking Provisional Government, and took the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sun Yat-sen granted Wang Chonghui a golden medal for his contribution to the founding of the Republic of China. When Yuan Shikai came to power, Wang Chonghui, lobbied strongly against Yuan’s restoration of the monarchy in China, resigned from his job in government and instead served as Vice-chancellor of Fudan University. In 1915, as National Protection Movement started, Wang Chonghui came to serve as Deputy Commissioner for Foreign Affairs of the Military Council; in 1920, he served as chief justice of the Chinese Supreme Court; in 1922, he served as premier of the Beijing government; he was Foreign Minister during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, secretary general of the Chinese Supreme Defense Council, and made great contributions in gaining international aid and support in the war against Japan.
Wang Chonghui, as Foreign Minister, convinced Great Britain, United States, and the Soviet Union, and made the signing of the Nine-Power Treaty possible, forcing the Japanese army to restore “pre-Incident conditions”, which bought time in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Wang Chonghui exerted efforts in his diplomatic work, and made important contributions in obtaining international aid and support.
When Wang Chonghui worked as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of China, he fought for the unity of China. He helped secure the signing of the Cairo Declaration, and made significant contributions to the unification of Taiwan with mainland China. On 23rd November, 1943, Wang Chonghui, as Secretary General of the Chinese Supreme Defense Council, put forward the following,in the pre-planned Chinese proposal: Chinese territories occupied by Japan after the Mukden Incident shall be restored to China, including concessions in Lvshun and Dalian, Taiwan, and Penghu. On 24th November, the draft plan of the Cairo Declaration was put forward that territories occupied by Japan shall be restored to China, for example, Penghu and Taiwan. The finalized declaration announced, “It is the purpose of the three countries that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and The Pescadores, shall be restored to China”.
Wang Chonghui’s diplomatic achievements can be attributed to his education in law. He was one of the few specialists in the field who mastered both the western and Chinese systems, clearly, highly accomplished in the fields of constitutional law, criminal law, civil law and international law. He participated in the drafting of the Charter of the United Nations, and was in history the first Chinese judge at the Court of International Justice in The Hague. His works included the Comment on Constitution, and Comparative Constitution, among the others. It is fair to say that he was the founding father of Chinese law in the 20th Century.
On March 15, 1958, Wang Chonghui passed away in Taipei at the age of 77.
