The Chinese revolutionary leader Wang Ching-wei (1883-1944) was an early follower of Sun Yat-sen and served as president and prime minister of the Nationalist government. During World War II he headed the Japanese puppet regime at Nanking.

Born at Canton in a minor gentry family, Wang Ching-wei was a brilliant student in traditional Chinese subjects. A good poet, an excellent calligrapher, and a master of Chinese prose, he later became a powerful orator. In 1903 he passed the first civil service examination and won a government scholarship to Japan. He earned a degree at Tokyo Law College and was a founding member of a revolutionary association, the T'ung Meng Hui. A major propagandist for the revolution, he became a national figure through an abortive attempt to assassinate the prince regent in 1910, which left him in jail until after the 1911 Revolution. He played a major role in negotiations between the...