Wang Jungzhi

Wang Jungzhi (Wang Ch'un Ch'ih) was a Chinese labourer, who was one of the last people to be executed by the British Army during the First World War. He was convicted of murder and executed by firing squad on 8 May 1919, six months after the Armistice.

Chinese labourers Wang Jungzhi was a member of the 107th Chinese Labour Corps, which maintained trenches and cleared battlefields and their surrounding areas of debris and destruction. It was harrowing work because of the thousands of dead, dismembered and rotting bodies. They worked close to dangerous areas, many of which contained undetonated explosives such as dud artillery shells. would not send men to fight. It saw sending men to work in docks and elsewhere as a commercial proposition without political intent.

Working conditions

The Belgian historian Dr Patrick Loodts said: "They found themselves behind the [front lines] in living conditions they certainly hadn't imagined! They were lodged in camps which they weren't allowed to leave, subjected to military discipline, carrying out the hard work needed to maintain the immense network of trenches." They were contracted to work seven days a week, ten hours a day, for three years.

Murder, trial and execution The Chinese were repatriated only in February 1920. they fought, they assaulted women, and they stole.

Burial place

Wang Jungzhi is buried in plot II.O.54 in the in Poperinge. His headstone, in English and Chinese, includes the inscription "A good reputation endures for ever."