Wang remembered for enhancing ties
By Zhang Kun (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-30 05:54

His last days

Wang had been in poor health and hospitalized for nearly a year before he passed away. According to a member of staff from Ruijin Hospital, Wang was suffering from pancreas cancer before, but his death was mainly caused by old age. "He left in peace," a worker close to Wang said.

Wang Daohan talks with Koo Chen-fu in Shanghai in 1998 during the second round of negotiations on cross-Straits relations between mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Taiwan-based Strait Exchange Foundation. [newsphoto]

In October, when a friend visited him, Wang said with a smile: "I still have two months." His health situation had deteriorated earlier this year, but in May, Wang was able to meet two party leaders from Taiwan, first the Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan, and then the People First Party Chairman James Soong.

Even though he was weak, he insisted on having his hair dyed especially for the meetings, and to meet Lien in Jinjiang Hotel instead of Ruijin Hospital. Only six days later, he appeared again in Hongqiao Guest House, meeting Soong. For both meetings he insisted on standing up to hand gifts to the guests himself.

People working close to him prepared Chinese paintings as presents for the pair, partly for their light weights. The gift Lien prepared for Wang, however, was a glass sculpture. This made the workers a little nervous, taking the piece from Wang as soon as he received it.

Wang was widely known for his love for reading. Only three days before his death, he called his secretary, asking for books about Chinese linguistics, the European Renaissance, banking, finance and latest developments in the Chinese intellectual world. The secretary recalled that Wang was very clear in mind at that time, and three months before that, he asked for books on advanced mathematics.

"He was very widely read, and active in thinking," recalled a worker close to him. Many of his colleagues were often impressed by Wang's grace and manners. "We were all impressed by the scholars' style of both," recalled Jiang Bimiao, a reporter with Shanghai Radio Station, who covered the 1993 Wang-Koo meeting. "Both were deeply influenced by traditional Chinese values. And they respected other people's work and feelings."

Wang used to live in Lane 11 on Wanping Lu in Shanghai, alongside with many other retired senior government officials. Wang was among the few of them that the janitor could recognize.

"He was our old mayor, and was close to the public when he was in office," said the janitor. "He was often in shirts, with pale skin, giving people the impression of a scholar."

(China Daily 12/30/2005 page5)