Wang graduated from the Tianjin Military Academy (天津武備學堂), also known as Beiyang Wubei Xuetang (北洋武備學堂), and fought with distinction in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Wang Yingkai was born into a wealthy farming family in Niuzhuang, Fengtian Province (now Yingkou, Liaoning), with his ancestral home in Shandong.

Selected by the village as a xiāng gòng (乡贡),[1] or an intellectual chosen to work for the government, Wang served as a teacher at a private school in Haicheng but was unsuccessful in obtaining the juren degree.

Mutual acrimony between Yuan and his Manchu opponents resulted in a reorganization of power and the establishment of a new Ministry of War with Tie Liang as its president.

Despite being allied with Yuan since 1896, Wang Yingkai emerged from these political struggles unscathed, being elevated to become the vice president of the Ministry of War in 1907 and subsequently deputy to the Manchu General Feng Shang.

Upon Sun's return from Japan, Wang and his political ally, Tie Liang, happened to be the ones presiding over the examination aimed at testing fresh graduates' ability.