Wang Hongfa

Biodata

Appearance

• Triangular eyes, repeatedly emphasized when he scrutinizes Wu Chen or becomes angry 1 6 25.
• Bald head, which he pats during his negotiations with Jiang Nan 47.
• Heavy face and pronounced jowls, described during confrontations with Wu Chen 34 37.

Personality

Wang Hongfa presents exploitation as mentorship. He encourages Wu Chen to share research with Lavrov and offers the possibility of accelerated promotion, while intending to appropriate his results. His confidence rests partly on the assumption that a junior teacher will endure mistreatment to protect his faculty position 1 3 8.

He is highly conscious of hierarchy but adjusts his behavior when money or advancement is at stake. He tolerates Jiang Nan’s criticism because he wants her family’s research funding, yet openly humiliates Wu Chen at faculty meetings. When Wu Chen hints at evidence of his affair, he retreats rather than risk his career 8 25 37.

His admiration for foreign technology repeatedly becomes disparagement of Chinese research. He claims that China trails advanced Western countries by at least thirty years in artificial intelligence and later dismisses Wu Chen’s innovations as repackaged foreign work 8 48.

Despite his outward authority, he handles public embarrassment poorly. Wu Chen’s exposure of his plagiarism and subsequent publication success each provoke a fainting episode 8 26 27.

Background / History

Academic position and ambitions

Wang is introduced as dean of the School of Computer Science. Later chapters identify his current unit as the School of Information Engineering, which is scheduled to merge with the School of Software to form the School of Computer Science the following year. He wants the deanship of the merged school and regards a successful industry–university collaboration as a means of securing it 1 37 48.

Xu Jianping considers him valuable because of his powerful connections, previous research ability, and potential to serve as a discipline leader. Wang’s position therefore rests on more than administrative authority alone 38.

Wu Chen’s original life

In Wu Chen’s original life, Wang and his senior schoolmate Lavrov forcibly appropriated Wu Chen’s research. Wu Chen’s subsequent failure damaged his academic reputation and led others to suspect that he had plagiarized Wang’s project. Wang and Liu Ping also obstructed his promotion to associate professor, contributing to his departure under the university’s “up or out” policy 1 3.

Later, a female student gave Wu Chen a USB drive containing evidence of Wang’s abuse at a hotel. After Wu Chen promised to help her report him, Wang drove a Land Rover toward the student. Wu Chen pushed her aside and was struck and killed, precipitating his rebirth 1.

Research appropriation after the rebirth

On July 17, 2008, Wang introduces the newly appointed Wu Chen to Lavrov and encourages him to discuss his attention-mechanism research. Remembering the original theft, Wu Chen instead presents spiking neural networks, withholding the work Wang actually wants 1.

Wu Chen subsequently supplies a deliberately flawed SNN paper and lends Wang the camera prototype Vengeance No. 1. Wang and Lavrov present the work as their own to potential collaborators, including Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory. Wang also instructs Wu Chen not to say anything that might undermine their funding pitch 3 5 8.

At the Jiang family’s memorial gathering, Jiang Nan challenges Wang’s disparagement of domestic technology. When Wang claims the SNN project as his joint work with Lavrov, Wu Chen publicly asks which part he actually produced—the paper or the sample. Wang faints and is taken to Xixi Hospital 6 8.

The system’s technical limitations later become measurable: at a conveyor speed of 1.8 meters per second, Wang and Lavrov’s inspection accuracy had fallen to 35 percent, whereas Wu Chen’s replacement system maintains accuracy above 97 percent 14.

Teaching pressure and publication humiliation

Wu Chen receives a schedule of forty class periods per week, including early classes every weekday. Because the dean must approve schedules, he concludes that Wang is retaliating for the pharmaceutical-factory confrontation. Rather than resign, Wu Chen stays to gather evidence and uses the teaching workload to earn system skill points 11.

At a subsequent faculty meeting, Wang announces new research-funding requirements and singles Wu Chen out for supposedly having no results. He and several colleagues laugh when Wu Chen claims three first-author publications. After checking the publication listings himself, Wang discovers that the claim is true; Wu Chen’s understated response, “Nuo,” is followed by Wang’s second fainting episode 25 26 27.

Yang Yuanjing’s false accusation

Wang encourages Yang Yuanjing to escalate her conflict with Min Xinrou, assuring her that he will handle the consequences. He then attends a disciplinary meeting that would not ordinarily require the dean, minimizes Yang’s use of chopsticks as a weapon, and redirects scrutiny toward Wu Chen 32 33 34.

Yang accuses Wu Chen of sexual harassment. Wang supports her account and questions the authenticity of Wu Chen’s exculpatory camera footage and Jiang Nan’s corroborating QQ messages. He backs down only after Wu Chen quotes his private conversation with Liu Ping about guaranteeing Yang a graduate-school place 34 35 36 37.

Wang acknowledges that Wu Chen was falsely accused and agrees to compensation for Min Xinrou’s damaged computer. He initially proposes probation rather than expulsion, but Wu Chen insists on university-level action. Wang subsequently gives Xu Jianping a selective account of the incident; Wu Chen later reports the affair and coordinated accusation directly to the president 37 38 39.

Smear campaign and attempted reconciliation

Wang briefly adopts a conciliatory approach, approving Min Xinrou’s move out of her dormitory and claiming that he has advocated for Wu Chen’s promotion. Privately, however, he continues to assess how much incriminating evidence Wu Chen possesses 42 45.

To placate Yang, Wang arranges a possible transfer to another university and considers later bringing her back for a master’s degree. When she instead posts accusations against Wu Chen online, he initially resents the renewed trouble. His attitude changes after foreign organizations support the allegations, and he agrees to an interview with the Science and Public Policy Institute 45 46.

Joint research agreement

Wu Chen and Jiang Nan plan to draw Wang into a costly SNN project, hoping financial pressure will expose his misuse of funds. Wang does not know that Jiang Nan’s negotiations are part of this trap. Seeking a flagship collaboration for his deanship bid, he ultimately agrees to the following terms 29 46 48:

After settling the agreement, Wang decides to report the collaboration to Xu Jianping and immediately distance himself from Yang through her expulsion. His rivalry with Wu Chen remains unresolved: during a later interview, he describes Wu Chen as a lecturer being considered for associate professor, only for Xu to announce Wu Chen’s appointment as a full professor 48 50.

Abilities & Skills

Artificial Intelligence Research

• Recognizes that the speed and quality of an old-photo restoration indicate an intelligent image-processing algorithm rather than manual Photoshop work 8.
• Had previously been a capable researcher, according to Xu Jianping’s assessment 38.
• Relies on Wu Chen’s appropriated SNN work and Lavrov’s technical reports for the pill-inspection venture 8 47.

Administration and Connections

• Holds authority over teaching schedules and school-level disciplinary proceedings 11 37.
• Uses institutional contacts to arrange a potential university transfer for Yang Yuanjing 45.
• Benefits from assistance provided by Liu Ping’s husband, an education-system official unaware of their affair 46.

Equipment / Items

• White Land Rover — His vehicle in the reborn timeline; the familiar vehicle and license plate trigger Wu Chen’s memory of the fatal attack in his original life 1 45.
• Vengeance No. 1 — Wu Chen’s borrowed SNN inspection-camera prototype, which Wang and Lavrov present as their own research 3 8.

Relationships

• Wu Chen — Subordinate turned adversary; Wang’s exploitation and original-life killing make him the target of Wu Chen’s revenge 1 15.
• Lavrov — Senior schoolmate and research partner in the appropriation and commercialization of Wu Chen’s work 1 8 47.
• Liu Ping — Married colleague and mistress; assists him in obstructing Wu Chen and contacts the foreign organization supporting the smear campaign 3 46.
• Yang Yuanjing — Co-conspirator in the false harassment accusation; Wang protects her until her continued actions threaten his interests 32 36 45 48.
• Jiang Nan — Prospective business collaborator who secretly helps Wu Chen entrap him through the SNN investment 29 48.
• Jiang Hongyue — Pharmaceutical-factory director whom Wang courts for research funding 5 6.
• Xu Jianping — University president who values Wang’s connections and past research but also receives Wu Chen’s report of his misconduct 38 39.