- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Soong.
Soong May-ling or Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek (traditional Chinese: 宋美齡; simplified Chinese: 宋美龄; pinyin: Sòng Měilíng; March 5, 1898[1] – October 23, 2003) was a First Lady of the Republic of China, the wife of former President Chiang Kai-shek. She was a politician and painter. The youngest and the last surviving of the three Soong sisters, she played a prominent role in the politics of the Republic of China.
Childhood
She was born in Shanghai, China on March 5, 1898, but some biographies use the year 1897 because Chinese tradition considers everyone to be one year old at birth.[3] She was the third of six children of Charlie Soong, a Hakka Chinese Methodist minister and businessman. Her siblings were: Oldest sister Ai-ling, middle sister Ching-ling, May-ling herself, then her brothers T. V., T.L., and last T.A.
1943 photo taken during a visit to Wellesley.
In Shanghai, May-ling attended the McTyeire School for Girls with her sister, Ching-ling, before their father arranged to have them further their education in the United States in 1907. Initially, May-ling and Ching-ling were attending a private school in Summit, New Jersey. In 1908, Ching-ling was accepted by her sister Ai-ling's alma mater, Wesleyan College, at the age of 15 and the two sisters moved to Macon, Georgia to join Ai-ling. However, the problem arose that May-ling could neither gain permission to stay with her sister on campus as a family member nor could she gain acceptance as a student due to her young age. May-ling spent the subsequent year in Demorest, Georgia, with the family of Ai-ling's Wesleyan friend, Blanche Moss. Mrs. Moss took care of May-ling and enrolled her as an 8th grader at the Piedmont College. A year later, in 1909, Wesleyan's newly appointed president, William Newman Ainsworth, gave May-ling special permission to stay at Wesleyan and assigned her special tutors. May-ling was officially registered as a freshman at Wesleyan in 1912 at the age of 15. She then transferred to Wellesley College a year later to be closer to her older brother, T.V., who, at the time, was studying at Harvard. By then both her sisters had graduated and returned to Shanghai. She graduated from Wellesley as one of the 33 Durant Scholars on June 19, 1917 with a major in English literature and minor in philosophy. As a result of being educated in English all her life, she spoke excellent English, with a pronounced Georgia accent which helped her connect with American audiences.[4]
Madame Chiang
Chiang-Soong wedding photo
Soong May-ling met Chiang Kai-shek in 1920. Since he was eleven years her elder, already married, and a Buddhist, May-ling's mother vehemently opposed the marriage between the two, but finally agreed after Chiang showed proof of his divorce and promised to convert to Christianity. Chiang told his future mother-in-law that he couldn't convert immediately, because religion needed to be gradually absorbed, not swallowed like a pill. They married in Shanghai on December 1, 1927. While biographers regard the marriage with varying appraisals of partnership, love, politics and competition, it lasted 48 years. The couple never had any children.
Madame Chiang initiated the New Life Movement and became actively engaged in Chinese politics. She was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1930 to 1932 and Secretary-General of the Chinese Aeronautical Affairs Commission from 1936 to 1938. In 1945 she became a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. As her husband rose to become Generalissimo and leader of the Kuomintang, Madame Chiang acted as his English translator, secretary and advisor. She was his muse, his eyes, his ears, and his most loyal champion. During World War II, Madame Chiang tried to promote the Chinese cause and build a legacy for her husband on par with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Well versed in both Chinese and western culture, she became popular both in China and abroad. Her prominence led Joseph Stilwell to quip that she ought to be appointed minister of defense.
In 1931, Soon May-ling had a villa built for her on the east side of Nanjing. Located a few hundred meters east of the Sifangcheng Pavilion of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (32°02′40″N 118°50′40″E / 32.04444°N 118.84444°E / 32.04444; 118.84444), the villa still exists, and is commonly known as Meilinggong (美龄宫), "May-ling Palace".[5]
Visits to the USA
On February 18, 1943, she addressed both houses of the U.S. Congress.
In the United States, she drew crowds as large as 30,000 people and made the cover of TIME magazine (she had first appeared in 1937 with her husband as "Man and Wife of the Year)" [6] Both husband and wife were on good terms with Time Magazine senior editor and co-founder Henry Luce, who frequently tried to rally money and support from the American public for the Republic of China. On February 18, 1943, she became the first Chinese national and second woman to address both houses of the U.S. Congress.
After the defeat of her husband's government in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Madame Chiang followed her husband to Taiwan, while her sister Soong Ching-ling stayed on the mainland, siding with the communists. Madame Chiang continued to play a prominent international role. She was a Patron of the International Red Cross Committee, honorary chair of the British United Aid to China Fund, and First Honorary Member of the Bill of Rights Commemorative Society. Through the late 1960s she was included among America's 10 most admired women.
Later life
After the death of her husband in 1975, Madame Chiang assumed a low profile. Chiang Kai-shek was succeeded to power by his eldest son Chiang Ching-kuo, from a previous marriage, with whom Madame Chiang had rocky relations. In 1975, she emigrated from Taiwan to her family's 36 acre (14.6 hectare) estate in Lattingtown, Long Island, New York, USA, where she kept a portrait of her late husband in full military regalia in her living room.
Madame Chiang returned to Taiwan upon Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 1988, to shore up support among her old allies. However, Chiang's successor as president, Lee Teng-hui, proved to be more adept at politics than she was, and consolidated his position. As a result, she again returned to the U.S.
Madame Chiang made a rare public appearance in 1995 when she attended a reception held on Capitol Hill in her honor in connection with celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Madame Chiang also made her last visit to Taiwan in 1995.
In the 2000 Presidential Election on Taiwan, the Kuomintang produced a letter from her in which she purportedly supported the KMT candidate Lien Chan over independent candidate James Soong (no relation). James Soong himself had never disputed the authenticity of the letter.
Soong sold her Long Island estate in 2000 and spent the rest of her life in a Gracie Square apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan owned by her niece. An open house of the estate drew many Taiwanese expatriates.
When Madame Chiang was 103 years old, she had an exhibition of her Chinese paintings in New York. To this date her work is not for sale.
Appraisals by international press
The New York Times:
As a fluent English speaker, as a Christian, as a model of what many Americans hoped China to become, Madame Chiang struck a chord with American audiences as she traveled across the country, starting in 1930s, raising money and lobbying for support of her husband's government. She seemed to many Americans to be the very symbol of the modern, educated, pro-American China they yearned to see emerge -- even as many Chinese dismissed her as a corrupt, power-hungry symbol of the past they wanted to escape.
[7]
Death
Soong died in her sleep in New York City, in her Manhattan apartment on October 23, 2003, at the age of about 105.[8] Her remains were interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, pending an eventual burial with her late husband who was entombed in Cihu, Taiwan. The stated intention is to have them both buried in mainland China once political differences are resolved.
Quotes
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The only thing Oriental about me is my face."[9] |
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Quotations about Soong May-ling
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She can talk beautifully about democracy. But she does not know how to live democracy. |
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—Eleanor Roosevelt
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Direct, forceful, energetic. Loves power, eats up publicity and flattery... Can turn on charm at will and knows it. |
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—Joseph Stilwell
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Madame Chiang was a close friend of the United States throughout her life, and especially during the defining struggles of the last century. Generations of Americans will always remember and respect her intelligence and strength of character. On behalf of the American people, I extend condolences to Madame Chiang's family members and many admirers around the world. |
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—George W. Bush
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Gallery
The image of Soong May-ling giving a bandage to an injured Chinese soldier was published in then Chinese newspaper, as it was written in Chinese: Soong May-ling often visited various hospitals and gave medical help to injured soldiers in person, in the style of Florence Nightingale.
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Soong May-ling stitching uniforms for National Revolution Army soldiers.
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1943 Wellesley College speech poster.
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1942 Chiang Soong Stilwell in Burma.
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1943 Soong May-ling in White House Oval Office to conduct press conference.
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Soong May-ling sitting close to Chiang Kai-shek opposite Chennault.
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Internet video
See also
References
- ^ a b While records at Wellesley College and the Encyclopaedia Britannica indicate she was born in 1897, the ROC government as well as the BBC and the New York Times cite her year of birth as 1898. The New York Times obituary includes the following explanation: "some references give 1897 as the year because the Chinese usually consider everyone to be one year old at birth." cf: East Asian age reckoning. However, early sources such as the Columbia Encyclopedia, 1960, give her date of birth as 1896, making it possible that "one year" was subtracted twice.
- ^ The New York Times gives her place of birth as Shanghai, while the BBC and Encyclopædia Britannica give it as Wenchang, Hainan island (which was then part of Guangdong Province).
- ^ "Madame Chiang Kai-shek, a Power in Husband's China and Abroad, Dies at 105". New York Times. October 24, 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/24/international/asia/24CHIANG.html?ei=5007&en=f8b504bbb50d937b&ex=1382414400&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=all&position=. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ^ http://www.wellesley.edu/Anniversary/chiang.html
- ^ Meiling Villa
- ^ TIME Magazine cover
- ^ SETH FAISON (25 Oct 2003). "Madame Chiang Kai-shek, a Power in Husband's China and Abroad, Dies at 105". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/25/world/madame-chiang-kai-shek-a-power-in-husband-s-china-and-abroad-dies-at-105.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- ^ "Madame Chiang, 105, Chinese Leader's Widow, Dies". New York Times. October 24, 2003. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E5DA1531F937A15753C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-06-27. "Madame Chiang Kai-shek, a pivotal player in one of the 20th century's great epics -- the struggle for control of post-imperial China waged between the Nationalists and the Communists during the Japanese invasion and the violent aftermath of World War II -- died on Thursday in New York City, the Foreign Ministry of Taiwan reported early Friday. She was 105 years old."
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3209965.stm Chiang Kai-shek's widow dies
Reading
- Laura Tyson Li, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek : China's Eternal First Lady (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006).
- Samuel C. Chu, ed., Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and Her China (Norwalk, CT: EastBridge, 2004).
External links
