On August 19 and September 8, 2025, we spoke with the renowned Peking Opera Master Chen Yuan-Zheng, who was born in 1929 and grew up in Danyang, Jiangsu Province, under Wang Jingwei’s Reorganized National Government (1940-1945). After serving in the army in Taiwan, Master Chen passed down his knowledge and skill as a teacher to keep the art of Peking Opera alive.
In this video, Master Chen shares vivid memories of a stable and orderly life under Wang’s rule, in spite of Japanese occupation. If the role of government is to serve its people, let us hear what the people thought of the Wang Jingwei government (1940-1945) during the Japanese occupation.
Our Republic of China did not perish. It continued to exist after the Japanese took control of the mainland, thanks to Chairman Wang.CHEN YUAN-ZHENG
Master Chen began the conversations about Wang Jingwei’s contributions to the nation by observing that even though the Japanese occupied Central and Eastern China, it was “Chairman Wang who held power… the flag was never replaced.” For him, this was not a “fake government” but a government that truly represented China.
When Chiang Kai-shek claimed victory, he could not accept the Wang Jingwei government, so he asked for it to be called “fake”…but in the hearts of the people, we never thought that way.CHEN YUAN-ZHENG
Living conditions were very good and stable. Each household was safe and sound... Wang’s army was very disciplined and was not allowed to harm civilians... The Japanese army “acted recklessly” in the beginning early years, but after the establishment of the Wang Jingwei government, things calmed down, and the Japanese dared not harm civilians.CHEN YUAN-ZHENG
After more than eighty years, Master Chen still cherishes his memory of those years: “We ordinary people miss him very much.”
His recollections, told to us in detail, corroborate the accounts of other people who lived in the occupied areas at that time. Listening to these eyewitnesses’ own words, we can learn about modern Chinese history that cannot be found in textbooks!
Our sincerest gratitude goes to master Chen Yuan-Zheng for refusing to forget what mattered most to him about a period in history many choose to forget or purposely distort for political purposes. We thank him for his generosity of time in sharing these valuable recollections with us. We also thank Master Chen’s student, Master Nung-Cheng Cheng, who is also now a teacher of Peking Opera at the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts, for facilitating the meetings with Master Chen and for helping us share these precious moments.
