Soong May-ling

Soong May-ling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soong_May-ling

Soong May-ling or Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang (traditional Chinese: 宋美齡; simplified Chinese: 宋美龄; pinyin: Sòng Měilíng; March 5, 1898 – October 23, 2003. was a First Lady of the Republic of China (ROC), the wife of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek. She was a politician, painter and the chairman of Fu Jen Catholic University. The youngest and the last surviving of the three Soong sisters, she played a prominent role in the politics of the Republic of China and was the sister-in-law of Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Republic of China preceding her husband.

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Soong May-Ling US Congress speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bsMwKS0Zbg

Madame Soong May-Ling 1943 Speech to U.S. Congress

The Dragon Lady who charmed the world

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/10/25/2003073291

On Oct 25, 1945, Japan officially handed over the administration of Taiwan to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), signifying the end of World War II in Asia. Fifty-eight years later, on the eve of Taiwan's "Retrocession Day," Soong Mayling (宋美齡), wife of the chairman of the KMT administration and leading general on the WWII Asian battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), passed away in her New York mansion at dawn.

Born in 1898, with a life spanning three centuries, the 105-year-old "Madame Chiang" (蔣夫人) played the prima donna on the 20th-century Chinese political stage and in the international diplomatic arena. She was the eternal first lady of the KMT administration, and also the longest-living leader involved in WWII. Her death in self-imposed exile contrasted markedly with her earlier life as an icon of the Nationalist regime.

China's Kennedy Family

Soong was born in Shanghai on Feb. 12, 1898. She was a student in the US at the age of 10. She studied at the Wesleyan College for Women and Wellesley College from 1908 to 1917, and graduated with a bachelor of arts from Wellesley.

Soong belonged to one of the most powerful families in modern Chinese history, and as the youngest daughter of three sisters, she was the apple of her parents' eyes. Her father, Charlie Soong (宋耀如), made his fortune doing business in the US and returned to China a powerful figure. Later, each of the Soong daughters married into the most influential and wealthy families in China, making the "Soong dynasty" the equivalent of the Kennedy family in the US.

The Soong family's eldest son, T.V. Soong (宋子文), was a KMT central standing member and China's finance minister, while the eldest daughter, Soong Ai-ling (宋靄齡), was wife to Kung Hsiang-hsi (孔祥熙), the wealthiest man in China. The second daughter, Soong Ching-ling (宋慶齡), was wife to Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), China's founding father. The youngest daughter, Mayling, married Chiang on Dec. 1, 1927, following his victories in the civil war over the northern military warlords.

"Chiang and Soong's wedding, held in the internationally renowned Majestic Hotel in Shanghai, was like a royal wedding in the West. This huge banquet was deemed a political marriage, and indeed it changed the face of Chinese history. The marriage was the most successful political union of the 20th century," said Lee Yung-chih (李永熾), a history professor at National Taiwan University.

"The marriage linked the three most influential families in China together. Chiang Kai-shek was the most powerful military leader, the Kung Family was the richest, and Sun Yat-sen was the founder of the KMT and China, and via the marriage they were intimately connected."

The War Period

Many historians and politicians feel that by marrying Soong, Chiang Kai-shek was able to inherit Sun Yat-sen's power in the KMT and the support of the international community, especially the help of the US, which would promote Chiang's prominence in China.

"When Madame was young, she was pretty, elegant and spoke fluent English, all of which caused quite a stir in the then-closed society of China. Furthermore, Madame's good understanding of Western affairs enabled her to be a bridge between Chiang and the West," said Shih Chih-yu (石之瑜), a political science scholar and political psychology lecturer at National Taiwan University.

In 1931, Madame Chiang and Chiang Kai-shek appeared on the cover page of Time magazine as "China's First Couple."

The same year, Japanese troops took over northeastern China and advanced on central China. Chiang, the KMT administration's leader and chief military commander, also had to fight the Chinese Communist Party, deemed "bandits." Soong became a key element in acquiring international support for this fight on two fronts.

In December 1936, the Xian Incident took place. Former northeastern military marshal Chang Hsueh-liang (張學良), son of northeastern Chinese warlord Chang Tso-lin (張作霖), abducted Chiang and demanded he work with the Communist Party to fight against the Japanese.

Soong rushed to Xian to negotiate with Chang, which resulted in a peaceful resolution.

During the war with Japan, Soong Mayling boosted air force construction, organized women's groups and engaged in children's welfare development.

However, she turned a blind eye on the vast corruption of her family members, which soiled her reputation.

In addition to her high-flying family background, Soong, while she was abroad, developed a graceful manner and a subtle understanding of Western affairs.

In order to seek international support to assist China in beating back the Japanese invaders, she made a series of visits to the US on behalf of her husband.

During these visits, her personal charisma proved a very formidable asset; everywhere she went a crowd of spectators would gather. In February 1943, Soong delivered a speech titled "War and Peace" to the US Congress. Her charming southern drawl as well as her leadership qualities won the support of the US government for her husband.

"Her major accomplishment was the success in pushing for the abolition of the `unequal treaties' between the US and China, as well as the abolition of anti-Chinese regulations," Shih said.

In November 1943, towards the end of World War II, Soong and Chiang Kai-shek attended the Cairo Conference to discuss post-war issues with US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill.

During the meeting, the four leaders reached an agreement that Japan should return Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu to China.

After the 1945 victory against the Japanese army, China did not enter a realm of peace. On the contrary, a civil war was fought between the KMT and the Communist Party. The government's army was beaten to such an extent that China finally became occupied by the Red army. The KMT moved its government to Taiwan in 1949, since when Soong supported former president Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan's development.

She traveled all over Taiwan and continued to participate in movements that contributed towards the improvement of women's rights, education, culture and social benefits.

Chiang Kai-shek passed away in April, 1975. His oldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), was his designated successor. Long-time tensions in the relationship between Chiang Ching-kuo and his stepmother, Soong, finally surfaced.

In the face of an unfavorable political relationship with the dominant "Prince's faction," Soong claimed ill health, and the need for medical treatment in America as her reason for leaving Taiwan and settling in New York with her nephew.

When Chiang Ching-kuo passed away in January 1988, vice president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) at the time succeeded to the presidency, in line with the Constitution. At the time, the KMT inner circle, which controlled the government, was divided with a younger faction wanting to carry out Chiang Ching-kuo's dying wish that "no son of Chiang could or should become the future president." Allowing Lee to take over the governing authority would have been beneficial to the country's international image, yet some older politicians still set their hopes on Chiang family descendents, and were unwilling to accept Lee as their leader.

"Lee was to be confirmed as the acting president at a crucial Central Standing Committee meeting on Jan. 20. But on the eve of the meeting, through Chiang Chin-kuo's third son Chiang Hsiao-yung (蔣孝勇), Soong Mei-ling collaborated with senior party members such as the KMT Secretary General Lee Huan (李煥) and Executive Yuan Premier Yu Kuo-hua (俞國華), hoping to suppress the agenda and obtain more time for her to accede to the throne of KMT leader," said senior political columnist Hu Wen-huei (胡文輝).

Despite Soong's obvious political ambition and vigorous attempts to lead Taiwan's politics, due to the party's young-member faction and opposing public opinion, her attempt to take over the political stage did not succeed.

"In fact, Madame Chiang's attitude was far away from the development of Taiwanese society, as if she was inside her palace and knew nothing about what was going on in the world," Hu said.

"Even the younger Chiang particularly emphasized that `I am also a Taiwanese' while pushing for reform and openness by the end of his presidency. In comparison, both Madame Chiang's words and thinking still remained bogged down in the beginning of the 20th century," he said.

"Compared to Eva Peron, Argentina's `eternal first lady' -- who embraced the media and the people to gain power -- Madame Chiang exercised power as if she was a noble living in feudal China. This, in fact, completely alienated her from Taiwanese society," Hu said.

A new era dawns

In July, 1988, the KMT's 13th National Congress officially appointed then-president Lee as the party chairman. During her speech at the closing ceremony -- in which she stressed the importance of both `old trunks and new branches' of the party -- Soong said "I shall arise", inspired by General Douglas MacArthur's famous "I shall return" pledge It was her last public speech in Taiwan.

"Lee's rule was consolidated after severe struggles between the pro- and anti-Lee factions inside the KMT. Later in 1991, Soong moved to New York and remained there, gradually stepping out of Taiwan's political circles," Hu said.

Soong and her family members lived in relative obscurity in Locust Valley, New York. Nevertheless, thanks to the Dragon Lady's great contributions to China during World War II, as well as its US ally, Soong charmed the world again in July, 1995 when she attended a ceremony that marked the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Congress saluted her on Capitol Hill, where the Chinese Nationalists had garnered their international support in the past.

Having lived during three centuries, Soong personally experienced countless ups and downs in life, even the transition of governing political parties in Taiwan. Even some Democratic-movement activists, who are critical of the authoritarian government, are willing to praise Soong's historical achievements. Democratic Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) described Soong as "a human treasure."

After Soong's 105th birthday in March this year, Lu said "Madame Chiang represents kindness, beauty and wisdom. She is a great cross-centuries woman."

Soong did not leave any biographies or memoirs, but all of her precious historical records are stored at California's Stanford University in the Hoover Institution Library and Archives under the East Asia section.

When Soong donated this batch of historical records, it was agreed that it would only be opened to the public after she had passed away.

Though some encouraged Soong to write a memoir, she remained unwilling to do so. In her mind, time would reveal historical events.

Now, with her passing, it seems that we can only wait for history to reveal itself.

Reporting by Lin Chieh-yu, Debby Wu, Cody Liu, Stephanie Wen and Eddy Chang

Madame Chiang Kai-shek

The formidable wife of Nationalist China's leader, she fought her own corner as ruthlessly as she defended his

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/oct/25/guardianobituaries.china

Soong Mei-ling (or May-ling, Madame Chiang Kai-shek), who has died aged 106, commanded the longest entry in Taiwan's official Who's Who for years after she had become a figure of the past. Piety towards her late husband, the former Nationalist Chinese leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, extended all the more to his companion of nearly 50 years. She was both formidable by herself, and shared the awesome reputation of the Soong dynasty - the five brothers and sisters whose lives became interwoven with the politics (on both sides) of revolutionary China.

Mei-ling spent most of her last years in semi-seclusion, at her Manhattan apartment or on a country estate on Long Island. Her charm was legendary, but so too was her ferocious temper and determination to defend her own interest against all who threatened it, including, at times, her husband.

She is best remembered for her wartime courtship of American public opinion, when, in spite of poor health, she charmed the headline writers, and most politicians, with her impassioned appeals that the US, increasingly preoccupied with the European and Japanese fronts, should not forget to help "Free China" against Japan.

Her address to Congress in February 1943, 14 months after Pearl Harbor, was described thus by Newsweek: "The effect was enchanting. The lady was dark and petite. She wore a long, tight-fitting black gown, the skirt slit almost to the knee," which was, of course, as revealing of American orientalising fancies as of the garment that it praised. She appeared on the cover of Time magazine twice.

President Franklin Roosevelt was not so easily charmed and, before long, his Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau observed, was "just crazy to get her out of the country". Sterling Seagrave, author of The Soong Dynasty (1985) tells how, when dining with the president, Mei-king was asked how the generalissimo would deal with a wartime strike of coalminers. "Everyone at the table gasped when [she] silently drew a long, lacquered nail across her throat ... Eleanor [Roosevelt] privately remarked: "She can talk beautifully about democracy, but does not know how to live democracy."'

Mei-ling's public speeches had a huge effect. There was a mass rally in Madison Square Garden, and a six-week tour of the country. Money poured in from big donors and small-town America. Some US journalists and servicemen in China were less impressed, knowing how the donations were diverted into corrupt pockets, or whittled down by artifical exchange rates. Certainly, Mei-ling returned home with several crates of cosmetics and new clothes.

A decade later, after the Nationalists had lost power to Mao Zedong and fled to Taiwan in 1949, her American connections would pay off again, when she and her sister Ai-ling cultivated the influential US China lobby. Its activities helped ensure communist China's isolation for more than two decades and intensi fied the cold war in Asia.

After Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, Mei-ling caused no surprise by retiring to Long Island, where she lived for more than a decade with a few relatives and aides. Her hostility to her stepson Chiang Ching-kuo had been rooted in decades. When he returned from training in Moscow in 1937, and was invited to "meet your new mother", he turned his back on her. Throughout the 1950s on Taiwan, she had fumed while he climbed politically: once, she rubbed in salt by presenting him with a bamboo painting inscribed simply "To Son".

Mei-ling was the youngest of three daughters of Charles Soong, the son of poor peasants on Hainan Island who had migrated to Boston to join an uncle. Converted to Christianity, "Charlie" returned to Shanghai and set up a successful printing press. Before long, he was banking the revolutionary movement of Dr Sun Yat-sen, which toppled the Manchu dynasty in 1911. Mei-ling by this time was being educated in the US - like her two older sisters, she would graduate from the fashionable Wellesley College, in Massachusetts, in 1917.

When Dr Sun's new republic of China was usurped by the dictator Yuan Shih-kai in 1913, Soong and his family followed the revolutionary leader briefly into exile in Japan. Here Mei-ling's eldest sister Ching-ling, at the age of 20, fell in love with Dr Sun, aged 50. Her second sister, Ai-ling, married a shrewd banker from a famous pawnbroking family in Shanxi province, HH Kung. The Soong dynasty was beginning to take shape.

By the time the Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek, unified China in 1927, the dynasty was well established. The two Soong brothers, TV and TL, were financial heavyweights, with TV as director of the Chinese central bank. Both they and the Kung family were also well-connected with the powerful Green Gang leader Tu Yueh-sheng in Shanghai.

Chiang, a protege of "big-eared Tu", had plenty of women and more than one wife, but he identified Mei-ling as a highly suitable connection. In 1927, three weeks after he turned on the Kuomintang's communist allies in Shanghai, slaughtering them in the streets with the help of the Green Gang, she accepted his proposal.The marriage was regarded as a shrewd political move. Mei-ling's US education and personality would help Chiang to acquire a foreign image. Marriage into the Soong family also established a personal link, via the widowed Ching-ling, with the legacy of Dr Sun.

It was also widely believed that, although Chiang and Mei-ling may have later fallen in love, the marriage was set up by the scheming sister Ai-ling, an equal partner in the financial adventures of her husband HH Kung. For his part, TV Soong's reward for consenting to his sister's marriage was to become finance minister in the new Nationalist government in Nanking, from which post he built an unrivalled position, frequently at the expense of the Chinese national interest.

Mei-ling soon showed the talents that had made her such a good choice, becoming Chiang Kai-shek's voice to the outside world. She also wooed the foreign community in China and, in 1930, shrewdly persuaded her husband to be publicly baptised. She wrote articles in English, often showing well-judged turn of phrase.

She also took a visible part in welfare work to support Chiang's troops in their campaigns against the communist base areas. Her letters described the struggle against the "bandits" (which led to the death of thousands of innocent peasants), praising her husband for possession of "the courage of a soldier and the sensitiveness of a poet".

In the late 1930s, Mei-ling was also the prime mover in the New Life Movement, which impressed foreigners with its assertion of wholesome moral values and Boy Scout behaviour; the Chinese nation was exhorted to love its neighbours and not spit in the streets. The hostility of the movement to those who dressed or cut their hair in foreign style, and the use of slogans and big-character posters, prefigured the zealotry of Mao's cultural revolution, though at the time it had a clearer affinity with the ethics of European fascism.

Mei-ling showed her steel most vividly in 1936, when her husband was kidnapped in the Sian incident by patriotic army officers, exasperated that Chiang Kai-shek preferred fighting Chinese communists rather than the Japanese aggressors. Alert lest he might be abandoned by TV Soong and HH Kung, she insisted on flying to Sian to join the negotiations. The drama propelled Mei-ling and Chiang on to the front page of Time magazine for the first time, its proprietor Henry Luce paving the way for her later successes.

But by 1947-48, when Mei-ling sought again to appeal for US aid against the godless communists, the charm had worn off. The venality of the Nationalists, and the Soong dynasty in particular, was on the public record. President Harry Truman kept her out of the White House, and complained that too much aid had been swallowed up by Chinese greed already. As Mao swept to victory in 1949, Chiang's Nationalists retreated to Taiwan, where they established the rival "republic of China".

None the less, throughout the 1950s, on frequent visits to the US, Mei-ling kept up the good fight abroad, while continuing to war against rival clan members in Taiwan. Her swansong came in 1965, when Washington toyed with the idea of playing the Taiwan card to ease its problems in Vietnam. There were parties and tea with Lyndon Johnson in the White House, though it came to nothing.

After Chiang died, Mei-ling's move to Long Island was barely reported. By the 1990s, many believed she must have died. She refused Beijing's invitation to attend the funeral of her sister Ching-ling in 1981, though when Ching-kuo died in 1988, she became briefly involved in an effort to prevent the Taiwan-born Li Teng-hui from succeeding him. It was soon announced, however, that, though she still had a "strong will", she would no longer "intervene in state affairs."

Finally, Soong Mei-ling had lost the art for intrigue and the zest for power that sustained for so long her formidable role as Nationalist China's Dragon Lady.

· Soong Mei-Ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek, born March 5 1897; died October 23 2003

Soong Mei-Ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTOq4WttKpQ

On February 18, 1943, China's first lady, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, delivers a speech before the House and the Senate appealing to the U.S. Congress to provide aid for the Nationalists in their struggle against Japan and the Chinese Communists.

Chiang Kai-shek

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek

 Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975) was a 20th-century Chinese political and military leader. He is known as Jiang Jieshi (蔣介石) or Jiang Zhongzheng (蔣中正)

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