Wang Ming (1904 - March 27, 1974) was Mao Zedong's major political rival during the 1930s. He opposed Mao's national deviation from the Comintern line. Wang epitomized the intellectualism and foreign dogmatism Mao criticized in his essays "On Practice" and "On Contradiction" .

Born in Anhui, he was introduced early on to socialist ideas. In November, 1925 the Chinese Communist Party sent him to Sun Yat-sen University in Russia where he mastered the Russian language and Marxist-Leninist theory. From 1927 to 1929 he worked as a translator for the Comintern.

In 1930, Wang returned to China with a number of fellow students. Calling themselves the "Returned Students" or the "28 Bolsheviks", they strived to regain control of the CCP from Li Lisan. At end, a number of the students become members of the Politburo and Wang became secretary general. In 1932, Wang left China once again becoming the CCP representative at the Comintern.

Between the years 1931 and 1934, Wang struggled for control over the peasant armies Mao had been gathering. His hope was to use the Red Army to mobilize the urban proletariat and unite the CCP with the Comintern line.

The final controversy between Mao and Wang came over the Second United Front . Wang argued for a subordination of the CCP to the Kuomingtang in order to maintain their alliance through the Second Sino-Japanese War and the KMT's pro-Soviet position. Mao though saw opportunity in the weakened KMT and desired to expand Communist rule in China. Eventually, Mao reached a direct compromise with Stalin who would demote Wang.

In 1956, Wang returned to the Soviet Union with the permission of CCP and remained there until his death.