Wang Yingkai

Wang Yingkai
王英楷
Resume of the Vice-Commander-in-Chief Wang Yingkai (覆副都統王英楷履歷)
Personal details
Born	1861 Haicheng, Liaoning, Qing dynasty
Died	1908 (age 48) Beijing, Qing Dynasty
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Tianjin Military Academy
Occupation	Military Officer

Wang Yingkai (pinyin: wáng yīng kǎi; Wade–Giles: wang ying k'ai) (1861 –1908), whose courtesy name was Shaochen (紹宸), was a Chinese general in the Beiyang Army and first rank official of the late Qing dynasty, who served as the Vice President of the Ministry of War and Vice-Commander-in-Chief of the Plain White Banner. Wang graduated from the Tianjin Military Academy (天津武備學堂), also known as Beiyang Wubei Xuetang (北洋武備學堂), and fought with distinction in the First Sino-Japanese War. After China lost the war, he joined the Beiyang Army established by Yuan Shikai and became one of leading commanders of the army. However, during subsequent political struggles he sided with the court party against Yuan. Sun Chuanfang, who later became one of the most important warlords in the early Republican years, was his brother-in-law and protégée. Wang Yingkai died in Beijing in 1908.

Wang Yingkai was born into a wealthy farming family in Niu Zhuang, Liaoning Province (which was then known as Fengtian (奉天)), near Haicheng, with his ancestral home in Shandong. Wang followed a conventional path for a young member of the gentry and participated in the imperial examination, obtaining a xiucai degree, the lowest level in the imperial examination system. Selected by the village as a xiāng gòng (乡贡), or an intellectual chosen to work for the government, Wang served as a teacher at a private school in Haicheng but was unsuccessful in obtaining the juren degree.