Wan was born Maotou (毛头) into a family of farming background in September 1920 in Guangshan County, Henan, the third child of Wan Tianrun (万田润) and Mrs. Xiao (肖氏). He had two elder sisters. His mother died when he was 3.[1]
During the Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927), he was a squad leader in the 28th Army. He participated in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Guerrilla Warfare.
In July 1933, he joined the Red Army. His superior Gao Jingting (高敬亭) named him Wan Haifeng.[2] And he enlisted in the Communist Youth League of China in 1935. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in October 1937.
In 1949, he participated in the Battle of Menglianggu, the Huaihai Campaign and the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign led by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping in eastern China.
In 1952, after the outbreak of the Korean War, the Chinese government commissioned him as a deputy division commander of the Chinese People's Volunteers. He returned to China and was awarded the military rank of senior colonel in 1955.
In 1955, Wan entered the PLA National Defence University, where he graduated in 1959. After graduation, he was appointed division commander of PLA Ground Force. In May 1972 he was promoted to become deputy commander of Beijing Military Region, and held that office until October 1975, when he was appointed deputy political commissar and a Party standing committee member. He commanded soldiers to take part in the relief work of the Tangshan Earthquake.[2] He became political commissar of Chengdu Military Region in October 1982, a position he held until April 1990. He attained the rank of general (Shangjiang) in September 1988. He retired in September 1998. Wan was also a member of Central Advisory Commission between 1987 and 1992.
On 2 September 2015, he was hired as the honorary president of Red Army School in Yichang, Hubei.[3]
