Wang Jiafu (; February 1931 – 13 July 2019) was a Chinese

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. He served as Director of the Institute of Law,

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

(CASS), and was elected an academician of the CASS. A leading authority on civil law in China, he was a member of the Legal Committee of the

8th National People's Congress The 8th National People's Congress () was in session from 1993 to 1998. It succeeded the 7th National People's Congress. It held five sessions in this period. Election results Elected state leaders In the 1st Session in 1993, the Congress elected ...

and a member of the Standing Committee of the

9th National People's Congress The 9th National People's Congress () was in session from 1998 to 2003. It held five plenary sessions in this period. It followed the final session of the 8th National People's Congress. There were 2,979 deputies to this Congress. Election result ...

. He played a major role in designing China's new legal system after the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, and was awarded the "Pioneer of Reform" medal in 2018.

Early life and education

Wang was born in February 1931 in a mountainous village in

Nanchong Nanchong (; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Sichuan province, China, with an area of . At the 2020 census it was home to 5,607,565 people, of whom 1,936,534 lived in the built-up (or 'metro') area made of th ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, Republic of China. He moved to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

at age ten, where he completed his primary and secondary education. In August 1953, Wang graduated from

China University of Political Science and Law China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 中国政法大学; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 中國政法大學; pinyin: ''Zhōngguó Zhèngfǎ Dàxué'', abbr. � ...

in Beijing. He pursued graduate studies in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and became a legal researcher at the Institute of Law,

(then part of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

) after returning to China in 1959.

Career

When the

reform and opening The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of Ch ...

era began after the end of the

, Wang published articles on the ''

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...

'' and the journal ''Legal Research'' in 1978 and 1979, advocating the establishment of a

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...

. In 1987, he was appointed a member of the working group for revising China's

contract law A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

. In March 1998, he was appointed a member of the working group for drafting China's civil code. His efforts helped facilitate the adoption of the by the

12th National People's Congress The 12th National People's Congress was elected in national congressional conferences from October 2012 to February 2013 and was in session from 2013 to 2018. It succeeded the 11th National People's Congress. It held five plenary sessions in ...

on 15 March 2017. Wang played a major role in designing China's new legal system. In 1995 and 1996, he was twice invited to

Zhongnanhai Zhongnanhai () is a former imperial garden in the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City, Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council of the People' ...

to give legal lectures to the

Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, formally known as the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and known as the Central Bureau before 1927, is the decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ...

, including China's top leaders, Party general secretary

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pres ...

and Premier

Li Peng Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Chi ...

. He emphasized the crucial need for legislation to prevent the politically powerful from profiting from the free market, especially during China's transition from a

planned economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...

to a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...

. The merit of his proposal was officially acknowledged by Jiang Zemin in 1996. Wang served as Director of the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and was elected an academician of the CASS. He was a member of the Legal Committee of the

and a member of the Standing Committee of the

. In 2018, the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening, the Chinese government awarded Wang the "Pioneer of Reform" medal. Wang died on 13 July 2019 at the

Peking Union Medical College Hospital Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), also known as Beijing Xiehe Hospital (), is a large of teaching hospital in Beijing, China. It was founded in 1921 by Rockefeller Foundation and is affiliated to both Peking Union Medical College (P ...

in Beijing, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Jiafu 1931 births 2019 deaths Chinese legal scholars Writers from Nanchong China University of Political Science and Law alumni Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Delegates to the 8th National People's Congress Members of the Standing Committee of the 9th National People's Congress Chinese expatriates in the Soviet Union