Soong family

Soong family

Influential 20th-century Chinese family. Charlie Soong (1866–1918) trained in the U.S. to become a missionary. In China he made his fortune as a publisher, initially of Bibles, and became a supporter of Sun Yat-sen, whose Nationalist Party he helped finance. His first daughter married a businessman who also provided financial support to the Nationalists; his second daughter, Soong Ch'ing-ling (Song Qingling; 1893–1981), married Sun Yat-sen; and his third daughter, Soong Mei-ling (1897–2003), became Chiang Kai-shek's second wife. A son, T.V. Soong (1894–1971), established the Central Bank of China and acted as finance minister for the Nationalist government in the 1920s and foreign minister in the 1930s. The 1949 communist takeover divided the family: Ch'ing-ling, who had earlier denounced the Nationalists for betraying Sun Yat-sen's ideals, remained on the mainland and was named honorary chairman of the People's Republic shortly before her death. Mei-ling accompanied Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan and publicized his cause in the West; as Madam Chiang, she became extremely popular in the U.S. T.V. Soong, once reputed to be the wealthiest man in the world, moved to the U.S.