"In my life, my sisters have left me, my brothers have left me, and even my sons have left me, and I can't help but question why God left me alone.
In my later years in the United States, my body was weakened by illness, and my juniors have always been by my side. Still, I felt lonely and told them many times why God didn't take me away and left me alone in this world to suffer lovesickness. "
On October 24, 2003, Song Meiling left this world peacefully at the age of 106 in her villa in Manhattan, USA. This once-ruling woman outlived her enemies and friends, but she died alone in a foreign land.
Song Meiling did not write any autobiography before she died, and she did not leave any last words after her death, she saw through everything, walked cleanly, and was lonely. Looking back on Song Meiling's life, she was full of beautiful youth, full of setbacks of struggle, had dictatorial power, and experienced helpless escape.
To understand Song Meiling's colorful life, it is impossible not to mention her father Song Jiashu and the Song family he founded. Song Jiashu was born in Hainan, lived in poverty since he was a child, and later went to the United States with relatives to work, and became a ** pastor by chance.
After that, he returned to China to run the printing and machinery industry, amassing a huge fortune. Soong donated most of his wealth to Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause, so his three sons and three daughters all joined the Kuomintang and all held important positions.
Among them, Song Jiashu's eldest daughter Song Ailing and second daughter Song Qingling successively served as Sun Yat-sen's secretary. Song Ailing later married Kong Xiangxi, forming the Kong family, one of the four major families; and the second daughter Song Qingling married Sun Yat-sen and became the mother of the country.
Among Song Ailing's children, Song Ziwen became famous for his control of China's finances and was known as the "God of Wealth". Song Jiashu's other two sons have also achieved remarkable achievements, however, the experience of the youngest daughter, Song Meiling, is particularly striking.
Born in 1897, Soong Meiling spent her childhood in the United States and received an open and advanced American education. At the age of 20, she returned to Shanghai, and with her outstanding beauty and prominent family background, she quickly became the focus of Shanghai's celebrity circle.
Song Meiling has been independent since she was a child and has a deep understanding of the ups and downs of **. She knows her worth and makes no secret of her desire for power. In Song Meiling's view, her partner must be a true leader to match her status.
In those turbulent years, it was common for the city to change the king's flag. So she was not in a hurry to choose a husband, but at the same time devoted herself to political work, silently selecting the best young talents.
In 1920, Song Ziwen held a banquet at his home, inviting representatives from all walks of life in Shanghai politics and business. At the banquet, Chiang Kai-shek met Soong Meiling and fell in love with her at first sight, and then launched a crazy pursuit of her.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was a lost politician, who was excluded by the people of Guangzhou, and could only socialize with figures from all walks of life in Shanghai, and make a living by buying and selling.
Chiang Kai-shek's pursuit of Soong Meiling was essentially a desire for the political resources of the Song and Confucian families behind her. Once he can marry Song Meiling, his political status will be improved, and the possibility of a comeback will also be greatly increased.
However, Soong Meiling, who regarded herself very highly, did not have a good impression of Chiang Kai-shek and was very indifferent to his pursuit. However, in 1922, the situation changed.
At that time, Chen Jiongming, commander-in-chief of the Cantonese army, launched a mutinous revolution, which forced Sun Yat-sen to take refuge in the Yongfeng ship. This gave Chiang Kai-shek an opportunity, and he boarded the Yongfeng ship at all costs and closely protected Sun Yat-sen for more than 40 days, so he was respected and trusted by Sun Yat-sen.
Chiang Kai-shek's political career reached its peak thereafter, serving as "Chief of Staff of the Second Army of the Eastern Road Bandit Army" and "Chief of the General Staff of the Base Camp", and in 1924 became the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy and the chief of staff of the General Headquarters of the Cantonese Army.
With the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek personally assumed the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and successfully invaded Shanghai in March of the following year. However, the first thing Chiang Kai-shek did after entering Shanghai was to send someone to propose to Soong Meiling.
Although he was born poor at that time, he had become the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, ruling most of China, and Song Meiling was attracted by his achievements. However, for this marriage, Song Qingling and Song Ziwen are both resolutely opposed.
Song Qingling has never had a high opinion of Chiang Kai-shek, and after learning that her sister intended to marry him, she immediately sent a telegram to her sister, which read: "I would rather let you leave this world than see you marry a man with at least two **, even if he is not nominally married." ”
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek already had a wife, Mao Fumei, and married Chen Jieru as his legal wife, and maintained a relationship with Yao Yecheng, who was born in Kabuki. In order to marry Soong Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek did not hesitate to divorce his first two wives, showing strong determination.
But Soong Ching-ling believed that Chiang Kai-shek was extremely distracted, a complete political opportunist, and could also betray the revolution, and she was very uneasy about entrusting her sister to him.
Chiang Kai-shek was a man of ambition and courage, and more importantly, he was capable, and I heard that he was in contact with the United States. In my opinion, he will eventually be able to rule China, and you must marry him. ”
Song Ailing believed that letting Song Meiling marry Chiang Kai-shek would benefit the Song family and do no harm. With her matchmaking, Soong Meiling finally agreed to Chiang Kai-shek's marriage proposal.
In March 1927, after the initial success of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek's power ambitions began to swell, and he planned to unite with the United States, Britain, Japan and other imperialist forces to purge the Communist Party in China.
After gaining the support of the Song family, Chiang Kai-shek quickly contacted the United States through the Song family's connections, and was recognized by the imperialists led by the United States. In April of the same year, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12 Incident" in Shanghai, which shocked China and the rest of the world, arresting and killing hundreds of revolutionaries and missing more than 5,000 people, and also marking the failure of the first KMT-CCP cooperation.
Immediately after the "April 12 counter-revolutionary coup", Soong Ching-ling stood up against Chiang Kai-shek, and she sent a statement to the nation by telegram: "The Chinese Kuomintang has lost its revolutionary leadership, and the enemies of the party are not outsiders, but leaders within the party." ”
Soong Ching-ling also wrote a letter to her sister Soong Mei-ling, resolutely opposing her marrying Chiang Kai-shek.
Soong Meiling was a staunch supporter of Chiang Kai-shek's counter-revolutionary actions, which she considered to be a feat of "extraordinary courage and courage." In December of the same year, she and Chiang Kai-shek officially married.
After getting married, Song Ziwen came to Nanjing from Wuhan and took refuge in the Nanjing Nationals led by Chiang Kai-shek, and served as the Minister of Finance of the Nationals. Song Ailing's husband Kong Xiangxi served as the Minister of Industry and Commerce of Nanjing, and concurrently served as a "member of the State Government".
At this point, the three families of Chiang, Song, and Kong officially appeared on the stage of history, and they were called the "four major families" together with the Chen Guofu family, which controlled the party affairs of the Kuomintang.
In'April 12 Revolutionary Coup'Later, with the help of the four major families and foreign imperialist forces, Chiang Kai-shek swept away internal and external resistance, seized real power in the Kuomintang, and gradually unified the warlord separatist forces at home.
During this period, Soong Meiling, with her fluency in foreign languages, shuttled between the great powers, winning the support of imperialism for Chiang Kai-shek's more than 20 years of rule in the country.
By 1936, with the exception of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army led by the Chinese Communist Party, few forces dared to challenge Chiang Kai-shek's authority. Chiang Kai-shek's power swelled rapidly, while the power and wealth of the four great families also increased dramatically. "
Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi successively served as the Minister of Finance, and their families were crazy to accumulate wealth by virtue of their authority. They use state-owned facilities under their control, including mines, shipping, and electricity, to pocket profits, and even force entrepreneurs to sell companies at a low price.
Through various means of expropriation and extortion, the Song and Kong families accumulated huge wealth. There was a saying within the Kuomintang: "The Chen family of the Chiang family is the world, and the Song sister Kong is wealthy", which satirizes the greed and plunder of the Kong and Song families.
It is said that after the defeat of the Kuomintang, Soong Ailing's family fled to the United States, and their assets exceeded one billion US dollars, even exceeding that of many American consortium giants, and their wealth was enough to compete with the country at that time.
The military medicine aided by the United States had not yet reached the Kuomintang soldiers, but it had already reached the hands of the Communist soldiers. And Soong Meiling even flew to the United States several times to speak in Congress to win more American aid.
Truman** had an insight into the greed of the Consons, and bluntly pointed out: "This woman came to America only to get handouts and to put the proceeds in her own pocket." ”
He sharply criticized the four families: "They are all thieves, stealing billions of dollars in aid, and using this money to invest openly in London, São Paulo and San Francisco, some of which are even right under my nose, that is, real estate in Washington and New York." ”
The greed of the Kong and Song families planted bitter fruits, and they had to bear it themselves in the end. After 1947, the United States gradually ceased to provide aid to the Kuomintang, which was a major reason for the eventual defeat of the Kuomintang.
In 1948, Chiang Kai-shek sent his eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo, to Shanghai to "fight tigers" in an attempt to curb the frenzied accumulation of wealth by the Kong and Song families in Shanghai.
Soong Meiling immediately ran to Chiang Kai-shek and wept bitterly, saying that her son's "tiger fighting" operation had threatened her safety. Soong Meiling also lobbied Soong Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi to oppose Chiang Ching-kuo's actions, so that this originally fanfare "tiger fighting" action finally became a joke, and was jokingly called "only fighting mosquitoes and not tigers" by Shanghai citizens.
Eventually, the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River with unstoppable force and stormed Nanjing, announcing the end of Kuomintang rule on the mainland, and the collapse of the Chiang dynasty.
Even if the Kuomintang was defeated and fled to Taiwan, Soong Meiling's status did not decline. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek urgently needed the support and help of the Americans, and Soong Meiling became the messenger of the people's communication with the United States, and had a certain influence in the United States.
In the face of the current situation, Song Meiling's desire for power is even more inflated. In 1950, she established the "Chinese Women's Anti-Russian Federation" in Taiwan, resolutely advocating the United States to resist the Communist Party.
In the field of diplomacy, she is still active. In August of the same year, she went to the United States and established the "Foreign Aid and China Aid Group" with some people who support Taiwan; In 1952, she went to the United States again to form the "China Lobby", also known as the "Federation of Millions", with the aim of preventing the People's Republic of China from returning to the United Nations.
In 1954, she visited the United States again and delivered a speech to the US Congress, vigorously inciting the United States to prevent China from restoring its legitimate rights and interests in the United Nations. It is undeniable that Soong Meiling's "efforts" in "resisting China" have achieved some results, so much so that China has been excluded from the United Nations for a long time after its founding.
With the gradual increase of China's national strength and international influence, Song Meiling's efforts eventually came to naught. On October 25, 1971, the 1976th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted by an overwhelming majority the resolution "Restoration of the legitimate rights and interests of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations" and expelled the Chiang Kai-shek regime from the United Nations.
This incident greatly affected Song Meiling's reputation in Taiwan and the United States, making her completely reduced to a clown, and finally faded out of the international **. Soong Meiling's political career came to an end.
Although she was the "first lady" of the Kuomintang and had significant influence in Taiwan and prestige in the United States by virtue of the marriage between the Kong and Song families, most of her power still came from her husband Chiang Kai-shek.
Under the protection of Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Meiling was still able to compete with Chiang Ching-kuo in Taiwan. However, with the death of Chiang Kai-shek in April 1975, Soong Meiling's position in Taiwan became quite awkward.
At first, she tried to launch a "seizure of power" operation, uniting the connections of the Confucian and Song families, in an attempt to inherit Chiang Kai-shek's position as "president of the Kuomintang". However, Chiang Ching-kuo adopted a trick and publicly announced that in order to respect Chiang Kai-shek, the "president" would become a commemorative post and would no longer be created, which completely deprived Soong Meiling of the legitimacy of inheriting the "president".
Chiang Ching-kuo seized real power within the Kuomintang, marginalized Soong Meiling, and took over as chairman of the Kuomintang. In September of the same year, five months after Chiang Kai-shek's death, Chiang Ching-kuo personally put Soong Meiling on a plane to the United States.
Since then, Song Meiling has lived a reclusive life in New York, USA, rarely appearing in front of **, during which she has returned to Taiwan several times to mourn relatives and friends, but each time she just stayed for a few days and left.
Taiwan can no longer accept her. In 1981, Ms. Song Qingling passed away in Beijing, and ** specially sent a condolence invitation to Song Meiling.
Soong Meiling insisted on her political stance and insisted on not negotiating, compromising or engaging with the Communist Party"Three no's"Principle. But she can only look across the Pacific Ocean in the United States, missing her second sister.
In 2003, Song Meiling died at home, and her body was wrapped in a woolen blanket and transported out. Looking back at Song Meiling's life, her political career was almost all about the greed of the Kong and Song families, and she did not make much contribution to the liberation of the Chinese people.
Perhaps, her only contribution left was to add a shovel of soil to the cemetery of the "Jiang family".