Chen Jieru's death makes people feel extremely sad because she did not get a good death. It was her husband, Chiang Kai-shek, who caused this result. This can be seen in a letter she wrote to Chiang Kai-shek on her deathbed.
In this letter, Chen Jieru expressed the disappointment and loneliness that she had accumulated in her heart for a long time. In 1933, Chen Jieru had been living in the United States for five years, but she did not wait for the news that Chiang Kai-shek would pick her up and return to China to remarry.
So, she returned to the place where she had been deceived alone.
Chen Jieru stepped on a familiar and sad land, and those past events that made her sad came back to her mind. This place was a sad place for her, but she still chose to stay here because she still had relatives.
The adopted daughter "accompaniment" and the mother are difficult for her to give up. Back then, accompanied by He Xiangning, she took back the "accompaniment" from Chiang Kai-shek. The first eight of the ninth daughters born to the overseas Chinese surnamed Xiao were all girls, so the parents planned to give them away, but Chen Jieru took a fancy to her and adopted her.
Chen Jieru's kindness made her like this child, and at the same time, she and Chiang Kai-shek did not have children, which was one of the reasons that prompted her to adopt "Companion". It is said that Chiang Kai-shek suffered from syphilis, but what the truth is is unknown.
However, judging from the fact that Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling have been childless for many years, the possibility is still very high. Chen Jieru didn't know this, but hoped that her adopted daughter could bring her a son.
Therefore, she named her adopted daughter "Companion", which is the same name as the English word "baby", and she hoped that her two children would grow up together.
Chen Jieru's daughter, Jiang Yaoguang, later changed her surname to Chen and followed the name of her mother Chen Jieru. However, her married life did not go well. During the Sino-Japanese War, she married a North Korean, but the marriage was not a happy one.
The North Koreans disappeared, and Chen Yaoguang raised two children alone, and life was very difficult. Later, under the introduction of his friend Mrs. Hu Jingru, Chen Yaoguang married Lu Jiuzhi, which was a beautiful marriage for her, and the two gave birth to a daughter together.
Chen Jieru was very satisfied with this son-in-law, and even gave the gold-shell pocket watch given to her by Chiang Kai-shek as a meeting gift. Although some people say that without Soong Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek might have lived with Chen Jieru, but this possibility is very small.
Chiang Kai-shek's political career was accompanied by the interests of marriage, and his first marriage was a union with Chen Jieru. In the summer of 1919, Chiang Kai-shek met for the first time Chen Jieru, a 13-year-old friend of Zhang Jingjiang's 18-year-old "wife" Zhu Yimin, at Zhang Jingjiang's home in Shanghai.
On that day, Chiang Kai-shek did not come to Zhang Jingjiang's house alone, he came with Sun Yat-sen and Dai Jitao. When he saw Chen Jieru, Sun Yat-sen felt that this little girl had spirituality, so he praised her in particular.
Chiang Kai-shek saw this. Chiang Kai-shek, who was serious by nature, actually showed a rare smile to Chen Jieru. Subsequently, Chiang Kai-shek waited for Chen Jieru to come out at the door of Zhang's house, asked for her home address, and began to pursue Zhang Jingchu's "Prime Minister Jiamian's girl".
But Chen Jieru kept an eye on it and deliberately told Chiang Kai-shek a wrong address. Although Chen Jieru couldn't guess Chiang Kai-shek's scheming, she soon saw Chiang Kai-shek outside the gate of her house.
Chen Jieru's first encounter: At the age of fourteen, she met Chairman Jiang on a narrow road and was forced to make a choice. Under the coercion and temptation of the chairman, she agreed to date him.
Frightened at the "Brinton Hotel", she fled in a hurry at the "Brinton Hotel", which traumatized her and led her to live in fear. Later, the chairman of the committee continued to harass, which made her feel uneasy at home, and finally under the soft and hard work of the chairman, she agreed to meet with the chairman again.
After the meeting, the chairman explained his family situation to her and swore that she would never live up to her heart.
In order to achieve each other's goals, Chiang Kai-shek confessed to Chen Jieru: "Looking at my face, Chen Jieru felt extremely frightened, and her voice trembled and said: 'On June 14, 1921, my mother died, and I left my hometown after completing her funeral.
On September 7th, your father died of a heart attack, and I came to your house wearing filial piety clothes to pay my respects. Soon after, I asked Zhu Yimin to pull the strings, and finally Zhang Jingjiang officially spoke as the matchmaker.
After seeing Zhang Jingjiang, your mother felt very embarrassed. Deep down, she didn't want you to marry someone else, but the pressure was so great that she had to compromise.
The marriage process between Chen Jieru and Chiang Kai-shek was finally determined after the request of her mother and some formalized etiquette. During the engagement ceremony, the two families exchanged gifts and filled in the information such as the birth dates of both parties on the red post, making their marriage an unchangeable fact.
In a chocolate shop on Nanjing Road, Chiang Kai-shek showed Chen Jieru his ** and wrote the name "Chen Jieru" on the left side to show Chen Jieru's status.
For Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Jieru's mother's wishes were very important, so he had written a document to break away from the family relationship with his wife and concubine. In general, Chen Jieru's name began to be called at her engagement ceremony with Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek attached great importance to Chen Jieru's mother's requirements, and even wrote a document in advance to disassociate herself from his wife and concubine.
On the evening of November 28, Chiang Kai-shek, in the presence of Chiang Ching-kuo and Chiang Wei-kuo, read out the document on his disconnection from his biological mother. In it, he expressed his determination to devote himself to the revolution and his determination to have no worries about his family.
He wanted to be able to relieve himself of his responsibilities to his family and devote himself wholeheartedly to the revolution. At the wedding ceremony, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Jieru held a half-Western and half-middle school wedding, they wore their respective dresses, smiled, and were full of love for each other.
Their wedding is an important moment in their lives and the beginning of their future.
During the wedding gift-giving session, Chiang Kai-shek gave Chen Jieru a small Kodak camera, and Chen Jieru gave Chiang Kai-shek a pocket watch with a gold chain in return. Chen Jieru recalled: "After the wedding, the guests dispersed, and I sat alone in the room without speaking.
Chiang Kai-shek gently locked the door, embraced me, and whispered: "On the third day, according to Chinese tradition, we went to visit my mother with gifts. Afterwards, we returned to Chiang Kai-shek's hometown of Xikou.
There, Chiang Kai-shek introduced me to his former spouse, Mao Fumei. After we had our salutes, I changed into more formal attire and went to the worship service.
Chen Jieru's honeymoon with Chiang Kai-shek ended successfully in Xikou, but they received a telegram from Sun Yat-sen urging them to return to Shanghai. On this return trip, Chen Jieru met Chiang Kai-shek's only biological son, Chiang Ching-kuo, and the relationship with Mao Fumei was also quite harmonious.
Chen Jieru often accompanies Chiang Kai-shek, and loves Jiang Weiguo very much, often giving him some toys. However, an unexpected problem arose: Chen Jieru and Chiang Kai-shek were unable to have children.
Chen Jieru described their life in "Chen Jieru's Memoirs", it turned out that before marriage, Chiang Kai-shek often went in and out of Fengyue places, and he also contracted venereal diseases, and as a result, the disease was transmitted to her.
In this regard, Chiang Kai-shek swore to quit drinking, and Chen Jieru also chose to forgive him. In February 1923, Chiang Kai-shek was appointed chief of staff of the Generalissimo's Mansion by Sun Yat-sen, and then went to Guangzhou in April to take up his post.
When Chiang Kai-shek was ordered to visit the Soviet Union, Chen Jieru refused the invitation to accompany him. During his time in the Soviet Union, he often wrote letters to Chen Jieru to express his thoughts. Later, Chiang Kai-shek was appointed by Sun Yat-sen as the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, and the relationship between the two became closer.
At Sun Yat-sen's house, Chiang Kai-shek met Sun Yat-sen's *** Soong Meiling. Although Song Meiling was not a beauty, Chiang Kai-shek was attracted to her and began to pursue her. However, Chen Jieru's temperament made Chiang Kai-shek aware of the need for politics, and he decided to pursue Soong Meiling to stabilize Chen Jieru.
In the next few years, Chiang Kai-shek specially invited Chen Jieru to participate in the "pigeon banquet" of Kong Xiangxi's family in order not to interfere with his own affairs, hoping to take this opportunity to let Chen Jieru meet the Song sisters.
At a dinner, Kong Xiangxi and Soong Ailing talked about Chiang Kai-shek. Soong suggested that Chen Jieru voluntarily withdraw from her marriage to Chiang Kai-shek and be replaced by Soong Meiling.
This was mainly due to the fact that Chiang Kai-shek was in trouble in Nanchang, which could have an impact on the interests of the Kong and Song families. In order to secure her own interests, Soong offered Chiang Kai-shek a plan to enlist Western support through a political marriage with Soong Meiling.
Chiang Kai-shek returned home and told Chen Jieru the news, and Chen Jieru was so sad that she almost fainted. In 1927, in order to achieve his own goals, Chiang Kai-shek made up an excuse to let her study abroad for five years, despite Chen Jieru's opposition.
He said that if Chen Jieru did not agree, he would commit suicide in front of her. In fact, Chiang Kai-shek was very desperate for his life, and it was impossible for him to really do this. This is just one of the methods he often uses to pursue Chen Jieru.
In the end, Chen Jieru was forced to agree. So, Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Jieru and Zhang Jingjiang's daughter to go to the United States for further study.
Chiang Kai-shek promised Chen Jieru's mother that the marriage would be restored within five years, and that if it did not materialize, he would be punished by God, but he finally ended his six-year marriage with Chen Jieru without hesitation.
Before Chen Jieru left China, various newspapers and periodicals in Shanghai carried notices from Jiang Zhongzheng, clarifying rumors about his marital relationship.
During her five years in the United States, although she lived a wealthy life, she was never able to extricate herself from Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal and was not happy spiritually. She tried to alleviate her inner pain by studying English as a penance, beekeeping, and gardening, as well as earning a master's degree from Columbia University's School of Education.
However, the five-year period had arrived, and she did not wait for any news from Chiang Kai-shek. After returning to Shanghai, she was reunited with her mother and adopted daughter, but she lived in seclusion and closed her doors. Although she wrote several letters to Chiang Kai-shek, he only granted her 50,000 yuan and did not give any explanation.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Jieru left Shanghai and moved to Chongqing to live. Chiang Kai-shek arranged her in Wu Zhongxin's house, often visited, and even rekindled old feelings.
After learning about this, Song Meiling was very angry.
Soong Meiling and her eldest sister Soong Ailing angrily went to Brazil for refuge in June 1944 and lived a carefree life. However, for the relationship between the Song family and the Chiang family, which were inseparable from the United States, Chiang Kai-shek could only choose to leave Chen Jieru and continue his life.
In May 1949, when Shanghai was liberated, Chen Jieru stayed in Shanghai and was invited to become a member of the CPPCC of Luwan District, Shanghai. However, this is not due to Chen Jieru's excellent performance, but out of Premier ***'s expectations for her, hoping that she can use her tenderness to awaken Chiang Kai-shek's conscience.
**The prime minister even invited Chen Jieru to the West Flower Hall, asked his wife Deng Yingchao to accompany her to dinner, and told Deng Yingchao to take good care of Chen Jieru. In 1961, with the approval of Prime Minister ***, Chen Jieru went to Hong Kong to settle down.
After Chiang Ching-kuo learned the news, he went to Hong Kong to visit Chen Jieru, and bought a one-story apartment on Prince Edward Road in Kowloon for her to live in, and gave her a lot of dollars and health care medicines.
Chen Jieru later rented out the apartment given to her by Chiang Ching-kuo, lived alone in Causeway Bay, and wrote books such as "Memoirs of Chen Jieru".
Jiang Yiping was entrusted by Du Yuesheng to coerce Chen Jieru in order to protect Chiang Kai-shek's face, demanding that she hand over the full draft of her memoirs and related documents**, and gave her $250,000.
Chen Jieru was forced to sign a pledge not to divulge Chiang Kai-shek's privacy. Chan died in Hong Kong in 1971 at the age of 65. Her ashes were sent to the United States for burial.
In 2002, her adopted daughter Chen Yaoguang moved her mother's ashes back to her homeland and buried them in Shanghai's Fushou Garden.