Wang Yingkai was born into a wealthy farming family in Niuzhuang, Fengtian Province, with his ancestral home in Shandong. Wang followed a conventional path for a young member of the gentry and participated in the imperial examination, obtaining a xiucai degree. Selected by the village as a xiāng gòng, or an intellectual chosen to work for the government, Wang served as a teacher at a private school in Haicheng but was unsuccessful in obtaining the juren degree. In 1894, Japan sent troops to Korea and a war broke out with China. Before the year was out, Japanese army had defeated the Chinese garrison in Pyongyang, thoroughly eliminating Chinese presence in the Korean Peninsula, and bringing the war to Chinese soil. When the Japanese laid siege to nearby Haicheng, the town elders suggested that Wang organize a local militia, which would go on to play a significant role in the five successive battles of Haicheng, which witnessed the fiercest scenes of the war. After Haicheng fell to the Japanese, Song Qing, the Deputy Commander of the Qing Army, and Yuan Shikai, at the time the Qing ambassador to Korea and commander of Qing troops garrisoned there, retreated to Shanhaiguan in the Zhili Province, and Wang Yingkai was instructed to bring the local militia there as well. It was at Shanhaiguan that Wang abandoned his administrative ambitions and devoted himself to becoming an army officer. Later, when Yuan Shikai became the governor of Shandong, he asked Wang to join him there, and the Wang family relocated to Jinan.
Officer of Beiyang Army
In view of the poor performance of the Huai Army during the war, the Qing government ordered the formation of a New Army competent enough to defend Chinese interests, with Yuan Shikai appointed as its first commander. In 1895, Wang joined the newly created Dingwu Army, and rose to be one of the leading commanders in the army, serving variously as the head of Discipline Enforcement Department, Director of the First Division as well as the Commander of the Second Division of the Beiyang Army. Yuan Shikai's growing power began to attract suspicion and hostility from Manchu royals led by Yuan's former ally, court officialTie Liang, who balked at the prospect of seeing an ambitious Han Chinese wielding power capable of toppling the ailing Qing dynasty. Mutual acrimony between Yuan and his Manchu opponents resulted in a reorganization of power and the establishment of a new Ministry of War with Tie Liang as its president. Despite being allied with Yuan since 1896, Wang Yingkai emerged from these political struggles unscathed, being elevated to become the Vice President of the Ministry of War in 1907 and subsequently deputy to the Manchu General Feng Shang. That same year, an imperial edict appointed Wang Yingkai to the position of Vice-Commander-in-Chief of the Plain White Mongol Banner. In 1909, Yuan was forced to retire under the pretext of illness but would return to power in 1911. Wang also commanded half of imperial army in the autumn military exercise held before the Qing court in 1906, opposing Duan Qirui, and was involved in the establishment of the Baoding Military Academy. At the time of his death, he maintained his family home in Baoding as well as an official residence at Shaojiu Hutong in Beijing.
Ranks and Offices Held
1902 Appointed to Second Rank 1905 Commander of First Division 1905 Advisor at Beiyang Training Bureau 1906 Brigade General, Zhili 1906 Acting Superintendent of Department of Military Administration 1906 Appointed to First Rank 1907 Vice-President of the Ministry of War 1907 Vice-Commander-in-Chief of the Plain White Banner
Death
He died in Beijing in 1908 at the age of 48 of tuberculosis.
Nickname
Owing to his obesity, he was called Fat Wang by his colleagues and subordinates alike.
Wang Yingkai and Sun Chuanfang
While in Jinan, Wang married the second eldest sister of Sun Chuanfang and provided financial support to the Sun family, which was very poor at the time. Sun was able to use natural abilities and his brother-in-law's position in the army to enroll in the newly created Baoding Military Academy. Wang also sent Sun abroad to Japan for further military study, where he graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. Upon Sun's return from Japan, Wang and his political ally, Tie Liang, happened to be the ones presiding over the examination aimed at testing fresh graduates' ability. Sun passed the tests and became an officer of the Beiyang army, and later became a Zhili warlord and leader of the "League of Five Provinces" in the early 1920s.
Legacy
Initially, the new army formed in the Late Qing period largely modeled on its German counterpart, and therefore the instructions were all delivered in German, before the Qing government found out German designs upon Chinese territories and had the latter's military contracts terminated. Knowing that the inability of Chinese officers to comprehend commands delivered by their German trainers would be a great impediment to training, he ordered the translation into vernacular Chinese of the German instructions. Phrases like 'Lizheng' and 'Shaoxi' remain in use today.
