Born in Jiangsu, Wang Jianxi graduated from high school in Beijing in 1967 and worked at the Yingchun Machinery Factory in Hulin, Heilongjiang until 1978 during the Cultural Revolution.
He was instrumental in the conclusion on 28 April 1994 of a memorandum of understanding between the CSRC and the US Securities and Exchange Commission that paved the ground for the first listings of mainland Chinese companies on US stock markets, starting with Shandong Huaneng Power Development in August 1994.
[2] In 1996, Wang moved to the UK affiliate of Bank of China, then in 2000 went back to the CSRC as Deputy Secretary General until 2002, then Assistant Chairman.
[4] In 2000-2001, together with CSRC Chairman Zhou Xiaochuan, he advocated China's adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, but could not overcome the reticence of the Ministry of Finance and its Assistant Minister Feng Shuping, in charge of accounting matters at the time.
In the mid-2000s he also served as chairman of China International Capital Corporation (CICC),[5] until being replaced by Li Jiange [zh] in early 2008.