Wang Ji: A Life of "Racing" from a Wheelchair ⬛ China Military Net reporters Zhang Yimiao, Tian Wensa, Zhang Wang; correspondent Zhou Yuhua
Sunlight passes through the glass window, falls on the edge of the computer desk, and then inch by inch moves onto a pair of hands striking the keyboard at high speed.
They are ordinary hands. The knuckles are clearly defined; between the rise and fall of fingertips, they tap out a steady, crisp rhythm.
Yet the owner of these hands is anything but ordinary. Where the cursor leaps and blinks on the computer screen, he is building a precise and reliable security barrier for the "brain" of the nation's most critical weapons.
When people encounter a difficult problem and need to think deeply, most pace back and forth. His "pacing," however, is to push his wheelchair with both hands, glide a meter or two, and then turn back……
The wheelchair is slow; the mind races. Between fast and slow, Wang Ji — researcher and doctoral supervisor at the College of Computer Science, National University of Defense Technology — charges across the "battlefield" of his choosing in his own "war chariot," tracing a life trajectory that will not stop until the objective is reached.
Wang Ji rides his wheelchair across campus.
The Direction of the Race
"The nation's needs are my choice"
In the dialysis room, the low hum of machines lingers in the air. A dialysis tube connects to the brown scar on Wang Ji's arm, left by years of repeated punctures.
In the winter of 2013, Wang Ji suffered a sudden aortic dissection. His life was saved through emergency rescue, but both legs had to be amputated at a high level due to prolonged ischemic necrosis. Eight years later, he required hemodialysis for renal failure. Three times a week, four hours each session — that has been the unvarying rhythm of treatment for the past several years.
Fate has been so cruel. Is there nothing to do but lament heaven's injustice?
Yu Fang, the orthopedic surgeon at Xiangya Hospital who personally performed his amputation and has since become a close acquaintance, describes Wang Ji this way: like the ocean — having weathered many storms, yet appearing utterly calm.
At this moment, Wang Ji reclines calmly against the head of the bed, leafing through papers from time to time. The medical equipment beside him runs at a steady pace; his mind runs at full power.
Beneath the calm, a surging, vigorous force — bestowed by the era — flows on.
A group photo of Wang Ji (first row, third from right) with his graduate school classmates.
China in 1983 was gathering strength to catch up with the world——
That year, in a laboratory at the National University of Defense Technology, the "Galaxy-I" (银河-I) supercomputer was born, making China the third country — after the United States and Japan — capable of independently developing a supercomputer.
That year, a cartoon used as the college entrance examination essay prompt provoked deep reflection across the nation: a well-digger repeatedly stops just as he nears water, digging one hole here and another there, sinking many wells but never striking water. A single exam question posed a challenge to the entire era: in the choices of life, should one dabble and then switch tracks in time, or persevere, lock onto a target, and fight to the end?
That year, Wang Ji was admitted to the Department of Computer Science at what was then the National University of Defense Science and Technology with outstanding scores, becoming the youngest undergraduate student in the entire school. The college entrance essay question about "digging a deep well" — he continued to answer it on the examination ground of life.
During his studies, Wang Ji studied under Academician Chen Huowang, who led the design of the software system for the "Galaxy-I" supercomputer, and remained at the university after completing his doctorate. Had he continued along his mentor's path, a broad and smooth road would have stretched before him — a stage provided by major national engineering projects, a mature pathway laid out by predecessors to follow, and achievements and honors within easy reach just ahead……Yet Wang Ji turned away from that wide, open road and chose a harder one: research into highly trustworthy software technology (高可信软件技术).
At the time, this field was virtually untouched in China. From the articulation of concepts to basic research, and then to engineering application, every step was "crossing the river by feeling for the stones." It was difficult — not ordinarily difficult. Yet: "The nation's needs are my choice." Wang Ji described his decision at the time this way: software is the "brain" of the nation's most critical weapons; if the brain is unreliable, no matter how strong the limbs are, it is of no use.
And so, on the eve of the full arrival of the information age, Wang Ji plunged headlong into the frontier of highly trustworthy software technology research — a field of critical importance to national defense security in the information age.
"Those who dig wells begin from a pit of three inches and work their way to a depth of ten thousand ren (凿井者，起于三寸之坎，以就万仞之深)." Admitted to the National University of Defense Technology before the age of 14, promoted to full professor at 33……life raced forward at full speed, until fate slammed the brakes on Wang Ji, again and again.
Wang Ji conducting research in his office.
On a snowy winter night in 2017, Dr. Yu Fang received a phone call from Wang Ji. They had not been in contact for more than three years. As a senior orthopedic surgeon at Xiangya Hospital, she knew all too well what a "sudden call from an old patient" meant.
By the time Wang Ji arrived at the hospital, Yu Fang found that the amputation site on his leg had become red and swollen, continuously weeping fluid — clearly the result of prolonged pressure from sitting. Wang Ji told her: "The project has been at a critical stage recently. There have been a lot of business trips and meetings, and some meetings go on for several hours……"
Yu Fang was stunned: "What? You're still working?"
Wang Ji smiled: "I've been working for several years now."
For a moment, Yu Fang's heart was filled with a tangle of emotions. Wang Ji, however, smiled and said: "I can't stop."
When Wang Ji returned to his unit after surgery, the same intensity of work returned with him. "The people who come to find Wang Ji are always those who have run into a tough 'hard bone' (硬骨头)," said Mao Xiaoguang, a professor at the College of Computer Science, National University of Defense Technology. "The wheelchair is his 'war chariot.'"
After a certain national defense 973 project for which Wang Ji served as chief technical expert successfully passed its acceptance review, one sentence in the comprehensive evaluation report stood out with particular prominence: "The overall technical level is at the international forefront and leads domestically; certain comparable indicators are at the international leading level." The results of this project were abundant. It is a "toolbox" — equivalent to opening a "software hospital" that specializes in treating the "difficult and complex conditions" of all kinds of equipment software systems. In early 2025, this research achievement was awarded the First Prize of the Military Science and Technology Progress Award (军事科学技术进步奖一等奖).
The confidence with which great national weapons break through waves and soar into the sky owes no small debt to this wheelchair-bound soldier's perseverance over more than a decade. The annotated papers sent from hospital beds and wheelchairs, the phone calls made to provide guidance — these are the answers he has written, line by line, with his second life: beside the well he identified, digging ten thousand ren into the earth, with no regrets even unto death (虽九死其犹未悔).
Wang Ji (second from right) discussing problems with his students.
The Speed of the Race
"The slowest person on campus, the fastest runner on the road of scientific research"
In the height of summer, the sound of cicadas drifts across campus, and graduation season quietly arrives.
In the corridor of the teaching building, the soft sound of a wheelchair gliding approaches. Wang Ji passes by students clutching their materials, rushing to their thesis defenses. The students cast admiring glances at him; he responds with a smile.
One faculty member on the team has never forgotten something from long ago. When he had just begun his master's program, the first task Wang Ji gave him was: spend one year reading an internationally published academic monograph that had just come out, draw nourishment from it, and build a solid foundation. At the time, the book's author was still unknown. Ten years later, that author stood on the stage to receive the Turing Award. Wang Ji's student from that time is now a backbone member of the team, and speaks of it with admiration every time it comes up: "How did Professor Wang see it then? That kind of academic insight — even now I find it incredible."
Beyond a pair of eyes that can see far enough ahead, Wang Ji also possesses a sense of urgency etched into his very bones. Especially after falling ill, he has said on many occasions: "The time for building a strong military through science and technology is very tight, and the time I have left to work is far from enough……"
In 2015, just after the Spring Festival, a wheelchair rolled over the threshold of the university's teaching building.
Looking at the tall steps in front of the building, Wang Ji simply moved the classroom to a conference room accessible by wheelchair. Even without a nameplate, even though it was not inside the teaching building — the room held only a conference table, a whiteboard, and a few chairs — Wang Ji said: "Knowledge has no fixed venue. Wherever the students are, that is where the classroom is."
Years later, the students who walked out of that "dedicated classroom" have two sets of images firmly fixed in their memories——
One is the table-slapping "arguments." The whiteboard is covered in derivation formulas; everyone often argues until their faces are red over algorithm paths and technical solutions. Wang Ji never uses "authority" to suppress others. Whether a longtime colleague of twenty years or a young student newly joined to the team, anyone can "argue until their face turns red" with him. In Wang Ji's view, this kind of "argument" is precisely the soil that innovation needs most. After one discussion session, he said to those around him: "Maybe inspiration comes in the middle of the argument, and the problem just opens up."
The other is a warm, gentle smile. When taking the group photo that hangs on the honor wall in the corridor of the Galaxy Building (银河楼), Wang Ji gave the "center position" (C位) to the students and stood at the far right himself. On important papers published at international Class-A conferences, the student's name appears first; Wang Ji's name, as supervisor, comes after. On business trips and research visits, no matter how small the expense — even a few dozen yuan — Wang Ji insists on transferring the money to the students, unwilling to let them bear even a fraction of the cost. When doing these things, Wang Ji always wears a brilliant, warm smile.
The easygoing and open-minded Wang Ji also has moments when he will not negotiate——
In 2017, an internationally organized "software verification competition" entered the view of Wang Ji's team. In their first appearance, they took first place. In 2018, they won again. In 2019, they reached the top for the third time. The unprecedented "three consecutive championships" made international peers sit up and take notice. When everyone was hoping they would continue to claim glory, Wang Ji decided to stop competing.
"Our mission is not to win championships," Wang Ji told the team. The standardized tools of this competition cannot be directly adapted to domestic military software; what we research must translate into combat capability (战斗力) — only then will we have fulfilled our mission.
From "competing for championships" to "not competing for championships" — this seemingly contradictory choice reflects Wang Ji's consistent philosophy of scientific research. The words of his mentor, Academician Chen Huowang — "reach the heavens and stand on the earth" (顶天立地) — are the scientific research founding aspiration (初心) Wang Ji has long upheld, and the bedrock of who he is as a person.
In 2014, Wang Ji watches the World Cup during his rehabilitation at a Beijing hospital and receives a football sent by a colleague.
The Driving Force of the Race
"As long as you don't give up, everyone will help you"
During the interview, a photograph caught everyone's attention——
In a hospital room, Wang Ji holds a football high above his head while lying in his hospital bed, his face radiant with a sunlit smile. The football was a gift from colleague Wang Ting. It was the height of summer; the fever of the Brazil World Cup had swept the nation.
"I didn't feel it was presumptuous, and I never thought he wouldn't be able to work again. I just wanted him to return to the group as soon as possible," said Wang Ting. In his eyes, even without his legs, Wang Ji has always been the one who can run the fastest.
This simple trust is a seed that Wang Ji, through his optimism in the daily accumulation of years, has sown in the hearts of the colleagues around him. When the storms of life come crashing in, that seed blooms in the hearts of those nearby.
His wife, Huang Chun, is the gentlest harbor in Wang Ji's life, and also his most tacitly understanding companion on the road of scientific research.
In 1990, Wang Ji met Huang Chun, a junior schoolmate who harbored the same dreams. "I felt I could never find anyone better than her." On the day they registered their marriage, the two passed by a small restaurant; a simple lunch was the entirety of their wedding.
The buildings where they each work are visible to one another at a glance. Late at night, two facing windows are always lit — those are their respective offices. The best love is not being inseparable at every moment, but two adjacent buildings, lit by the same light.
In those darkest days, the light that illuminated each other came from more than one source.
Liu Wanwei, once a student and now a colleague, has never forgotten one detail——
When Wang Ji was being rescued in the hospital, everyone spontaneously organized shifts, taking turns keeping watch in the emergency room. Each person would record in a small notebook the condition of Professor Wang that day. Wang Ji was still unconscious at the time. On the day it was Liu Wanwei's turn to keep watch, he saw that the previous classmate had written in the notebook: "Professor Wang is safe through the night."
At such a moment, when life hung by a thread, the weight of the words "safe through the night" was immense. They were no longer an ordinary greeting or wish, but a precious moment won through everyone's day-and-night vigil and silent prayers. More than a decade has passed, and he has never forgotten that line of writing, nor the smile on Professor Wang's face as he sat in his wheelchair. Liu Wanwei said: "When I encounter obstacles in work or life that I can't get past, I think of Professor Wang, and I immediately find my way through."
Wang Ji never troubles others. As soon as his health improved slightly, he insisted on traveling alone on business trips, leaving at five in the morning to catch the earliest flight and make it to a morning meeting. During project acceptance reviews, he might fly three or four times in a single month. He always says: "Whatever I can do myself, I do myself. Everyone works hard on scientific research — there's no need to waste time picking me up and dropping me off."
Heaven helps those who help themselves (自助者，天助之).
No one remembers when it started, or who initiated it first. Colleagues began arriving punctually every day, parking their cars downstairs from Wang Ji's building to take him to and from work. One trip, two trips; one day, two days……Wang Ting has been doing this for eight years, in the blink of an eye.
Gradually, a ramp quietly appeared at the entrance to the cafeteria. The threshold in front of the teaching building was worn smooth at some point, no one quite knows when. The people around him no longer think there is anything special about him being in a wheelchair. When the college holds its sports meet, he is invited to watch in person just the same.
Wang Ji's mother has difficulty getting around; the community has quietly delivered meals to her for ten years. His daughter has become a "permanent resident" at the home of a neighbor, Sister Liang. Last year, Wang Ji's eighty-year-old mother pushed her walking frame to handle some business at the community office. A staff member offered to help; the old woman waved her hand: "I want to walk back on my own, just like my son."
Wang Ji at the National University of Defense Technology.
As night falls, one light after another comes on in the Tianhe Building (天河楼) — older faces, younger faces, familiar faces, faces seen for the first time……each one, bearing reverence and tenacity, busy in the play of light and shadow.
Wherever Wang Ji has passed, there are the tracks of a wheelchair, and the footprints of even more people. More and more people have quickened their pace to follow, layering their own efforts one upon another, converging into a road of hard-fought advance.