ng), Mandarin Song, Chinese family, prominent in public affairs. Soong Yao-ju or Charles Jones Soong, 1866–1918, graduated from Vanderbilt Univ. and, after returning to China (1886), was a Methodist missionary in Shanghai. He resigned from mission work in 1892 and thereafter was a successful merchant.
Soong Tzu-wen, better known as T. V. Soong, 1894–1971, his most distinguished son, was educated at Harvard and later (1917–23) engaged in private business in China. He occupied several official positions in the Kuomintang Kuomintang [Chin.,=national people's party] (KMT), Chinese and Taiwanese political party. Sung Chiao-jen organized the party in 1912, under the nominal leadership of Sun Yat-sen, to succeed the Revolutionary Alliance.
..... Click the link for more information. government, including governor of the Central Bank of China and minister of finance (1928–31, 1932–33); minister of foreign affairs (1942–45); and president of the Executive Yüan (1945–47). After failing to reconcile Communist and Nationalist governments in 1949, he moved to the United States. The three daughters of C. J. Soong were also prominent.
Soong Ai-ling, 1890–1973, graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga. She married K'ung Hsiang-hsi K'ung Hsiang-hsi , 1881–1967, Chinese banker and political leader, educated at Oberlin and at Yale. He deemed himself a direct descendant of Confucius in the 75th generation. Throughout his career he supported Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek.
..... Click the link for more information. and engaged in child welfare work.
Soong Ch'ing-ling or Song Qingling, 1892–1981, also graduated from Wesleyan College. She early became prominent in revolutionary politics, and in 1914 she married Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen , Mandarin Sun Wen, 1866–1925, Chinese revolutionary. He was born near Guangzhou into a farm-owning family. He attended (1879–82) an Anglican boys school in Honolulu, where he came under Western influence, particularly that of
..... Click the link for more information. in Japan. After Sun's death (1925) she was elected (1926) to the Kuomintang central executive committee. After the expulsion (1927) of the Communists, she resigned and went abroad. The outbreak (1937) of the Sino-Japanese War reconciled her with the Kuomintang, until 1946. From 1949 until her death she served as vice chairman of the government of the People's Republic of China. In 1951 she was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize, and in 1953 a collection of her writings, Struggle for New China, was published.
Soong Mei-ling, c.1897–2003, graduated from Wellesley College. She married Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek , 1887–1975, Chinese Nationalist leader. He was also called Chiang Chung-cheng.
After completing military training with the Japanese Army, he returned to China in 1911 and took part in the revolution against the Manchus (see Ch'ing).
..... Click the link for more information. in 1927. She was a member of the Legislative Yüan (1930–32) and secretary-general of the Chinese Aeronautical Affairs Commission (1936–38). In 1945 she became a member of the central executive committee of the Kuomintang. Through numerous articles, broadcasts, and travel to the United States she sought to enlist American support for the Chinese Nationalists against the Communists. She lived in the United States after Chiang's death (1975).
Bibliography
See E. Hahn, The Soong Sisters (1941, repr. 1970); S. Seagrave, The Soong Dynasty (1985); L. T. Li, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (2006).
Soong, Song
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