1983: Wang Zhong, small-time grifter
January 17th, 2016 Headsman
On this date in 1983, Wang Zhong, once the Communist Party Secretary and district head of Haifeng county, Guangdong, was executed for corruption.
The first official of his rank to be so punished, Wang did business on a truly paltry scale relative to the titanic graft compassed by China’s latter-day oligarchs: his first booty was a 17″ black-and-white TV in 1979. In the end, between payola extorted and contraband expropriated, Wang sold his life for 69,000 yuan — a little over US $10,000.
The Associated Press translated a Canton newspaper report of Wang’s execution thus:
His crimes were read out and his sentence before more than 17,300 people at a rally at Swatow, 200 miles east of Canton.
Wang then was driven in a truck to an execution ground about 25 minutes away.
Between 600 and 700 bicycles were parked near the execution ground, and some people ran on foot to watch after the truck and its escorts passed by thousands of spectators along the route.
A cold wind blew and a light rain fell as the convoy arrived and a policeman asked Wang if he had any last words. It [was?] said he asked police to tell his children not to follow his examples.
At 2:45, Wang Zhong knelt facing south. The policeman carrying out the execution once again confirmed his identity. Then he picked up an automatic rifle and, ‘peng,’ a bullet pierced Wang Zhong’s heart.
On this day..
- 1938: Vladimir Beneshevich, Byzantinist - 2020
- 1863: Antonio Locaso - 2019
- 1890: Three hangings in Louisiana - 2018
- 1959: Jose Cipriano Rodriguez - 2017
- 3,001 Days of our Deaths - 2016
- 1949: Hiroshi Iwanami - 2015
- 1944: Max Sievers, freethinker - 2014
- 1907: Three "terrorists" in an Odessa public garden - 2013
- 2006: Clarence Ray Allen, "beyond rehabilitation" - 2012
- 1945: Szymon Srebrnik survives execution at Chelmno - 2011
- 1799: Dun Mikiel Xerri, Maltese patriot - 2010
- 1961: Patrice Lumumba - 2009
- 1977: Gary Gilmore - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,China,Crime,Death Penalty,Execution,History,Pelf,Politicians,Public Executions,Shot
Tags: 1980s, 1983, corruption, january 17, swatow, wang zhong
