Biography of Wang Shitai

Name: Biography of Wang Shitai
ISBN: 9787226046326

《王世泰传》编委会Gansu People's Publishing House · ChinaSep 2025

3.4

Word count: 189K words
Chapters: 45
ISBN: 9787226046326

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Summary

Wang Shitai (1910–2008), male, Han, was born into a peasant family in Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province. He joined the Communist Party of China in April 1929 and in the winter of 1930 joined the guerrilla forces led by Liu Zhidan. In January 1947 he became commander of the Fourth Column of the Northwest Field Army and led his troops in the important campaigns of Yiwa, Guanzhong, Fumei, and Lanzhou, making an indelible contribution to the liberation of the Northwest. After the founding of New China he served successively as chairman of the Gansu Provincial CPPCC and director of the Standing Committee of the Gansu Provincial People's Congress. Wang Shitai was one of the principal founders of the Northwest revolutionary base area and the Red Army and made important contributions to the liberation of the Chinese nation and the building of New China.

Biography of Wang Shitai is an objective account of Wang Shitai's revolutionary and constructive career and is a personal biography.

Editor's review

This biography takes time as the warp and events as the weft, tracing Wang Shitai's path from a peasant boy in northern Shaanxi to one of the founders of the Northwest revolutionary base area. Its accounts of the Yiwa, Guanzhong, Fumei, and Lanzhou campaigns present both the broader context of military decisions and details from the perspective of participants, allowing readers to sense the complexity and hardship of the liberation of the Northwest. The section on the period after the founding of New China focuses on his efforts to promote local development during his tenure in the Gansu CPPCC and People's Congress, offering a case study for understanding changes in social governance in the Northwest. The book is written in plain language and draws on documents and reminiscences compiled by the editorial committee, making it suitable as supplementary reading for local revolutionary history and biographical research. Readers should consult maps of Northwest revolutionary history and background materials on the relevant campaigns to better appreciate the subject's choices and sense of responsibility at specific historical junctures. For readers interested in Party history, military history, and local governance experience, this book has considerable documentary value and reading significance.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and graduate students engaged in research on Party history and military history
General readers interested in the course of the Northwest liberation war
Local historians and gazetteer workers in Gansu and the Northwest
Young and middle-aged readers hoping to learn about the lives of older-generation revolutionaries

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer literary biographical narrative and psychological description
Researchers expecting the latest academic debates and analysis of diverse historical sources
Beginning readers lacking basic background knowledge of Northwest revolutionary history

Reading tips

Read the relevant chapters of a general history of the Northwest liberation war before entering the biography proper, to help locate the campaign backgrounds.
While reading, mark the geographical locations of the Yiwa, Fumei, and Lanzhou campaigns on a map to strengthen spatial understanding.
The post-1949 section can be read alongside local gazetteers of Gansu, with attention to the continuity of institutional development.
After each chapter, briefly note the subject's changes of post and key decisions to form a personal reading timeline.

About the publisher

Gansu People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Founded in Lanzhou in 1951, Gansu People's Publishing House specializes in local chronicles, Dunhuang studies, historical documents of northwest China, collation of ancient books, and cultural and historical readings. It once launched the magazine Reader and is now an independent subsidiary of Reader Publishing Group. Its six titles in our database span several fields: in medicine, Advances in Clinical Pharmacology and Research Methods by Qin Hongyan, Liu Lijuan and Zang Kaihong; in documentary literature, Chen Yufu's Record of Traffic Police in Earthquake Relief; in biography, the volume Wang Shitai: A Biography by its editorial committee; and also Li Mengji's A Life of Unpaid Debts, Shi Fang's Quality Education Library: Creativity, and Sun Kui's Selected Lectures on Armed Police Development. Its authors are mainly medical researchers, documentary and biography writers, and educators. Public information is limited, so this introduction focuses on the publishing directions reflected in the titles in our database.

版权信息
引言
第一章生于忧患
第二章艰难求学
第三章延安入党
第四章大闹学潮
第五章投笔从戎
第六章虎穴取抢
第七章风雪归途
第八章陇东失利
第九章借水养鱼
第十章脱险归队
第十一章游击烽火
第十二章脱颖而出
第十三章托起太阳
第十四章浴血秦岭
第十五章林海情深
第十六章心向北斗
第十七章重振旗鼓
第十八章再造新天
第十九章保卫苏区
第二十章开辟新地
第二十一章携手共进
第二十二章众志成城
第二十三章饱尝苦甘
第二十四章痛哭志丹
第二十五章养伤归队
第二十六章守护庆环
第二十七章统领边保
第二十八章论定是非
第二十九章屯军三边
第三十章保卫关中
第三十一章执掌联防
第三十二章南线钳敌
第三十三章北上整编
第三十四章春季攻势
第三十五章四出渭水
第三十六章决战关中
第三十七章重担在肩
第三十八章主政甘肃
第三十九章建设铁路
第四十章两委纪要
第四十一章艰难岁月
第四十二章落霞晚照
后记

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no grounding in Party history?

It can be read, but readers are advised first to acquire a basic outline of the Northwest revolutionary base area and the Northwest theater of the liberation war. The biography proceeds chronologically and is dense with events; without background knowledge, the significance of campaigns and the relationships among figures can feel unfamiliar. Paired with a general history or maps, the threshold for reading drops noticeably.

Does the book include detailed records of Wang Shitai's work after 1949?

According to the introduction, the biography covers his post-1949 service as chairman of the Gansu Provincial CPPCC and director of the Standing Committee of the Gansu Provincial People's Congress, among other posts, and is an objective account of his revolutionary and constructive career. The degree of detail in work records should be judged from the main text; readers may treat it as a reference case for understanding local governance practice in Gansu.

What supplementary materials should one prepare for reading this book?

It is advisable to prepare a situation map of the Northwest liberation war, background materials on the Yiwa and Fumei campaigns, and basic materials from Gansu local gazetteers. The biography involves many unit designations, campaign names, and changes of post; supplementary materials help clarify the timeline and spatial relationships and improve reading efficiency.

What is the narrative style of this biography?

Judging from the introduction, the book is an objective account of Wang Shitai's revolutionary and constructive career and belongs to the genre of personal biography. The language tends toward plainness, emphasizing the presentation of events and experiences rather than literary embellishment. It suits readers seeking facts about the subject's life and the historical context, and is less suited to expectations of psychological description and narrative technique.

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About the author

《王世泰传》编委会 Author · China

The Editorial Committee of The Biography of Wang Shitai is a collective authorship name responsible for compiling The Biography of Wang Shitai, and its title directly indicates that the committee's work centers on the writing, organization, and completion of this biography. Based on the information available in the library, public materials about the committee are limited, including its founding date, members, organizational affiliation, and working methods, so no individualized biographical account can be provided. In terms of editorial direction, the committee focuses on gathering and organizing biographical materials about Wang Shitai and preparing the text, which falls under general biography writing and typically involves collecting historical sources, tracing the subject's life, and producing a systematic narrative. The advantage of such collective compilation lies in division of labor and cross-verification of sources, which helps ensure completeness and consistency of style. The Biography of Wang Shitai is currently the only work by this committee in the library and serves as the main basis for understanding its editorial approach and output.