Wang Ruochui, born in Hunan Province in 1926, graduated from Peking University in 1948. He started his career as an ardent supporter of Mao Zedong, joined the People's Daily in 1950 and later promoted to be deputy editor in chief for 15 years until shunned by the Communist Party for his liberal advocacy. Elizabeth Rosenthal writes (The New York Times, Jan. 14) that Mr. Wang was a profound thinker respected by both friends and enemies for his rigorous and honest analysis. He was singled out by Mao as a"promising young man" and Mao would even call him in the middle of night for advice according to David Kelly. Kelly, author of Marxism in Post-Mao China, has translated some of Mr. Wang's works into English. Wang, a devoted Communist, believed that China could and should embrace liberal principles like free speech, human rights and the rule of law.
Beginning 1979, Wang criticized Mao's personality cult and wrote and lectured widely on his revised ideas. He was condemned by the Communist Party as a revisionist, but he refused self-criticism. He was dismissed in both his job and Communist membership in 1987. In later years, however, Wang appeared to be more modest in his criticism.
Steven Muifson in his article, "The puzzling face of China," (Washington Post, June 4, 1988), states that "many Beijing intellectuals agree that despite the tight security in Tiananmen Square, the political atmosphere in China is more relaxed than it has been since the crackdown. Newspapers and journals are publishing articles about the need for political reform. Human rights speakers appear on college campuses." Wang had been unable to publish his political views in China after the 1989 crackdown until recently, when two of his articles were accepted for publication. Wang was quoted in Muifson's article to say: "recently, the atmosphere here has relaxed."
Wang was spending the year with his wife, Feng Yuan, Chinese journalist, who was Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Wang died of lung cancer on January 10, 2002 in Boston.