{{Short description|Chinese politician}} {{family name hatnote|Wei|lang=Chinese}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Wei Wenbo | native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|zh-Hans-CN|魏文伯}}}} | native_name_lang = zh | office = Minister of Justice of the People's Republic of China | term_start = 13 September 1979 | term_end = 4 May 1982 | predecessor = Shi Liang | successor = Liu Fuzhi | birth_date = {{birth date|1905|03|09}} | birth_place = Huanggang, Hubei Province, Qing Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|11|15|1905|03|09}} | death_place = Shanghai, People's Republic of China | party = Chinese Communist Party | image = File:Wei Wenbo pic.jpeg | term_start1 = 22 December 1978 | term_end1 = 11 September 1982 | office1 = Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection | birth_name = {{lang|zh-Hant|魏去非 Wèi Qùfēi}} | education = Wuchang Chunghua University (Affiliate High School) | alma_mater = Beiping Yuwen University | office2 = Member of the Central Advisory Commission | term_start2 = 1983 | term_end2 = 1985 | office3 = Vice Minister of Justice | term_start3 = December 1952 | term_end3 = February 1955 | spouse = Li Jingyi (李静一) | children = 5 | occupation = Politician, revolutionary, lawyer, poet | 1namedata1 = Chen Yun | 1blankname2 = Chairman | 1blankname1 = Secretary | 1namedata2 = Deng Xiaoping | 2blankname1 = | 3blankname1 = | 2namedata1 = | 3namedata1 = | minister3 = Shi Liang }} '''Wei Wenbo''' ({{lang-zh|c=魏文伯|p=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. After his rehabilitation in 1979, he continued to serve in governmental posts until his eventual retirement.<ref name=":02">{{cite web |title=Ministries from 1949 - Justice |url=https://rulers.org/chingov2.html |accessdate=December 31, 2018 |publisher=rulers.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=19 Oct 1979 |title=New Minister of Justice Interviewed |url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/peking-review/1979/PR1979-42.pdf |archive-url= |work=Beijing Review |pages=3–4}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title="先天下之忧而忧"_新闻中心_新浪网 |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2005-03-23/05515435261s.shtml |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=news.sina.com.cn}}</ref>
== Biography == === Early life and activism === Wei was born into a moderately rich peasant family in Xinzhou County (then part of Huanggang), Hubei, China on the 9th of March, 1905.<ref name=":12" /> 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 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.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=市场星报社多媒体数字报刊平台 |url=http://www.ahscb.com/html/2015-08/03/content_194277.htm |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.ahscb.com}}</ref><ref name=":52">{{Cite web |title=人民日报 1987-12-01电子版,人民日报历史 |url=https://cn.govopendata.com/renminribao/1987/12/1/3/#779916 |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=cn.govopendata.com}}</ref>
In 1927, Wei gave up his opportunity to study in the Soviet Union following 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 as a company commander. After the uprising's failure, he escaped to Hubei and continued the underground struggle during the country's white terror in Yichang.<ref name=":52" />
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.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":52" /> During his time in Beiping, he was arrested three times by Kuomintang forces.<ref name=":12" />
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.<ref name=":22" /> 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.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":22" /><ref name=":52" />
=== Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Revolution === 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 1939.<ref name=":62">{{Cite web |title=Wei Wen-po (魏文伯) |url=https://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/tc/item/cuhk-3012693 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk}}</ref>
In 1940, Liu Shaoqi founded Central China's first-ever Anti-Japanese Democratic Government (抗日民主政府) in Communist-controlled Dingyuan county, and Wei took on the role as the head of its government, serving as the Director of the 'Dingyuan-Fengyang-Chuxian Joint Administrative Office', and actively worked towards strengthening CCP's foothold in Anhui.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=口述：魏文伯在定远鲜为人知的故事 |url=http://www.dyxzx.gov.cn/content/detail/52fd7c9e356cf4cf2a1baca5.html |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=www.dyxzx.gov.cn}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite web |title=新四军-新四军人物 |url=http://www.n4a.cn/eastday/xsjyj/2012n4a/node639057/u1a6818044.html |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.n4a.cn}}</ref> During his time in the county government, Wei organised mobilisation efforts, building the Communist Government's legitimacy and propagating anti-Japanese fervour.<ref name=":22" />
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 temporary measures which gave families of Chinese soldiers preferential treatment from the government, which boosted the popularity of the Communists in the areas they controlled.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":62" />
In the summer of 1944, Wei travelled to Yan'an to study in the Central Party School as part of the Yan'an Rectification Movement, while working as a member of a Propaganda Committee. After completing his studies, he went on to serve as Deputy Director and Party Secretary of the Wanjiang (Southern Anhui) Administrative Office.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":52" />
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.<ref name=":32" />
=== After the founding of the People's Republic === 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.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":42">{{Cite web |title=魏文伯 |url=https://www.ecupl.edu.cn/_s26/2015/1111/c690a37024/page.psp |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.ecupl.edu.cn}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":52" /> 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.<ref name=":12" />
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.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":52" /> He acted as the chief spokesperson of the Chinese government's efforts to eradicate Schistosomiasis, which plagued rural China at the time. Wei coordinated medical research projects and partook in many on-the-ground eradication efforts with disease experts and barefoot doctors over a period of ten years, playing an important role in the disease's eradication in China.<ref name=":52" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gross |first=Miriam |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt19632f6 |title=Farewell to the God of Plague: Chairman Mao's Campaign to Deworm China |date=2016 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-28883-6 |edition=1 |jstor=10.1525/j.ctt19632f6}}</ref> 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').<ref>{{Cite web |title=送瘟神 三字经（刘韵若）_翕响吴音（苏州评弹）在线播放免费听 - 喜马拉雅手机版 |url=https://m.ximalaya.com/sound/66305039 |access-date=2024-11-09 |website=m.ximalaya.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=再读毛泽东的《送瘟神》-2020年第8期-群众网 |url=http://www.qunzh.com/qzxlk/jczx/2020/201908/202011/t20201104_80464.html |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.qunzh.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=上海的星期四 |url=https://cn.govopendata.com/renminribao/1958/2/22/4/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=cn.govopendata.com |language=zh-Hans}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":52" /><ref name=":62" />
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.<ref name=":52" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=企业顾问网-法治人物 |url=http://www.zqwgw.com/lm58.aspx |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=www.zqwgw.com}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":12" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=我们是怎样送走"瘟神"的？ |url=https://cn.govopendata.com/renminribao/1970/6/19/3/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=cn.govopendata.com |language=zh-Hans}}</ref>
By 1979, Wei was thoroughly rehabilitated by the party and resumed work by joining Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, serving as its Deputy Secretary and Secretary-General starting from December 1978 before being appointed as the Minister of Justice in September 1979.<ref name=":02" /> 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.<ref name=":12" /> 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).<ref name=":42" /> Wei also sat on Liu Shaoqi's funeral committee which was formed in May 1980.<ref>{{Cite web |title=刘少奇同志治丧委员会名单 |url=https://cn.govopendata.com/renminribao/1980/5/16/1/?amp=1 |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=cn.govopendata.com}}</ref>
After retiring from his major posts in 1982, he was chosen to serve on the Central Advisory Commission (CAC) in October 1983, and was invited to the 13th National Congress of the CCP.<ref name=":42" />
=== Illness and death === 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.<ref name=":12" /> 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.<ref name=":42" /><ref name=":52" />
Wei Wenbo died in Shanghai due to illness on the 15th of November, 1987, aged 82. His funeral was presided by Jiang Zemin. He was eulogised as a 'time-tested proletarian revolutionary', a title given only to highly respected party elders and martyrs, acknowledging his early participance in the CCP and the revolution.<ref name=":52" />
A portion of his ashes were transferred to Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, while the rest were buried in Shanghai, where he had lived for most of his life.<ref name=":52" />
In 2004, a 520 square meter tomb was built by the government in his hometown in Xinzhou, Wuhan to memorialise him.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=武汉市新洲区第三次全国文物普查不可移动文物名录-武汉市新洲区人民政府 |url=https://www.whxinzhou.gov.cn/xxgk_29/xxgkml/gysyjs/ggwhty/ggwhtyfw/202312/t20231215_2321307.shtml |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=www.whxinzhou.gov.cn}}</ref>
== Personal life == 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=中国书法家协会 - 吾艺传媒网 |url=https://www.mshuhua.com/assoc?_id=3&_c=member&_a=intro&id=28605 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=www.mshuhua.com}}</ref>
The former residence of Wei Wenbo in his hometown in Xinzhou was also the founding site of the Chinese Communist Party's first branch in Xinzhou, Wuhan. Wei founded it together with other local communist agitators in the mid 1920s and it has since been declared a protected site by the local government.<ref name=":0" /> [[File:Huangdaopo Mu.jpg|thumb|Huang Daopo's tombstone inscribed with Wei's calligraphy in Xuhui, Shanghai]] 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.<ref name=":62" />
The Wenbo College at the ECUPL is named after him. The college was built as part of the university adopting a residential college system in 2017 and specialises in liberal arts education alongside politics, economics and law.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wenbo College system adopted by ECUPL |url=https://www.shine.cn/education/1707251087/ |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=SHINE |language=en}}</ref>
Wei had his name changed multiple times throughout his life, not unlike many other Chinese revolutionaries. Wei's birth 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 gave Wei the given name of Wenbo (文伯),<ref name=":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 hailed from Anhui, and was notably a relative of Qing Dynasty official Li Hongzhang.<ref>{{Cite web |title=寻访李静一--新安晚报 |url=http://epaper.ahwang.cn/xawb/20240701/html/content_20240701009001.htm |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=epaper.ahwang.cn}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | before = none | title = President of East China University of Political Science and Law | years = 1952–1955 | after = Zheng Wenqing }} {{s-gov}} {{succession box | before = Shi Liang | title = Minister of Justice | years = 1979–1982 | after = Liu Fuzhi}} {{s-end}}
{{Ministers of Justice of the People's Republic of China}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Wenbo}} Category:1905 births Category:1987 deaths Category:Politicians from Huanggang Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hubei Category:Presidents of East China University of Political Science and Law Category:Ministers of justice (China) Category:People of the Cultural Revolution Category:Chinese people of World War II Category:Delegates to the 12th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Category:Delegates to the 13th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Category:20th-century Chinese poets Category:20th-century Chinese calligraphers Category:Communist poets Category:Poets from Hubei Category:Chinese revolutionaries Category:Victims of the Cultural Revolution