By the late 1980s, Wang's children were increasingly promoted in the Communist Party and amassing large business holdings and wealth. His eldest son Wang Jun was the head of CITIC Group, the largest State Investment group in China, while his younger son Wang Zhi, became head of China Computer Development Corporation, the first Chinese computer manufacturer. Wang Zhen, who remained an unrepentant Marxist, felt betrayed by his children's "Capitalist" lifestyles, according to one well-wisher who met him shortly before he died, allegedly calling them "Turtle eggs" (a slang term for bastards), "I don't acknowledge them as my sons".
