Wang was born in 1964 in Nantong, Jiangsu province. He attended Fudan University in Shanghai, graduating with a degree in philosophy. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in December 1994. After graduation he worked as an instructor at career institute of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology; he also served as the head of the Communist Youth League organization at the institute, as well as the managing the sales of photocopying machines. He was later transferred to work as mayor of the town of Wuku in the Songjiang District, then promoted to party chief of Liugang. Then he served as deputy governor of Songjiang District in Shanghai and head of urban planning; he was also in charge of industrial development, the technology park, and export growth.

In January 2005, Wang was then transferred to Kunming to become deputy party chief, then mayor. Then he was transferred back to Shanghai to serve as deputy party chief and later governor of Huangpu District. In April 2011 he was named a provincial Party Standing Committee member of Jiangxi and party chief of the provincial capital Nanchang.^[1]

In March 2015, Wang was named Party Secretary of Jinan and joined the Shandong Shengwei Changwei; he replaced Wang Min, who was dismissed for corruption. In April 2017, Wang was named deputy party chief of Shandong.^[2] On 26 March 2018, he was appointed acting Governor of Heilongjiang province, replacing Lu Hao. He was confirmed as Governor on 15 May.^[3] Wang was appointed Minister of Commerce in December 2020. In October 2022, after the 20th CCP National Congress, Wang was appointed as a full member of the CCP Central Committee. Wang was previously an alternate member of the 18th and the 19th Central Committees of the CCP.