Chiang Kai-shek died in Taipei on April 5, 1975, at the age of 88. According to statistics, his legacy of more than $36 million is a huge fortune.
So, what did he do with this inheritance?
Chiang Kai-shek was a man who valued family inheritance, and in order to deal with potential risks, he wrote wills for his family many times. For example, in 1934, he wrote a will, telling his two sons Jiang Jingguo and Jiang Weiguo that after his death, he would continue to maintain a mother-son relationship with Song Meiling, support Song Meiling, and wait for Song Meiling to be buried with him in the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in the Purple Mountain in Nanjing after a hundred years.
This will moved Song Meiling to tears, thinking that he was a person who valued love and righteousness, and was worthy of entrusting him with a lifetime. However, many people may not have noticed that Chiang Kai-shek did not mention in this will how his estate would be distributed.
This is not difficult to understand, because Chiang Kai-shek had just ascended to the throne of power, and most of his energy was focused on power, not on the accumulation of wealth. What's more, for the Song family, who are extremely wealthy, Chiang Kai-shek's little property is really nothing, so there is no need for him to explicitly mention the distribution of the estate in his will.
Although this passage mentions the relationship between Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Wei-kuo, and Soong Mei-ling, I think its core idea is about the relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling. Even if he can't give Song Meiling too much materially, he can give her a "name", which is also what Song Meiling values the most.
In this relationship, Chiang Kai-shek needed the financial support of the Song family and the Kong family, and the Song family and the Kong family also needed Chiang Kai-shek's power protection. Although some people will question whether the relationship between them is genuine, Chiang Kai-shek, as a capable leader, ruled the world in that chaotic era, and Soong Meiling undoubtedly admired him.
Although his will may have elements of showmanship, it cannot be denied his love for Song Meiling and the basis of the relationship between them.
Although Chiang Kai-shek's life was full of ups and downs and failures, Soong Meiling has always been by his side, and the relationship between the two is unbreakable. However, after Chiang Kai-shek's death in 1975, the will he left behind caused an uproar.
It turned out that he gave his inheritance to Chiang Ching-kuo, on the grounds that he would use it as funds for the ** mainland in the future, and it had nothing to do with Song Meiling. This decision made Soong Meiling extremely angry, and even scolded her, and then left Taiwan and spent the rest of her life in the United States.
But is that really just why she's angry? In fact, she and Chiang Kai-shek have spent 48 years of ups and downs together, and this relationship is unmatched. However, after Chiang Kai-shek's death, he did not leave any inheritance to Soong Meiling, how could this not make her heartache?
Soong Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek's wife, although her fortune was not inferior to Chiang Kai-shek's, her anger at her husband's failure to leave her a little inheritance could not be appeased. This is not because of the legacy itself, but because of Chiang Kai-shek's indifferent attitude towards her.
Soong Meiling had a strong desire for power, but after Chiang Kai-shek's death, power was given to Chiang Ching-kuo, not her. It made her feel extremely lost. Soong Meiling and Chiang Ching-kuo had always been inseparable, but they could barely maintain a friendly relationship while Chiang Kai-shek was alive.
But after Chiang Kai-shek's death, Chiang Ching-kuo could no longer give in to Soong Meiling. Of course, Soong Meiling knew this, so she was ostensibly criticizing Chiang Kai-shek, but in fact she was criticizing Chiang Ching-kuo.
In general, with the death of Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Meiling's glory also came to an end. She died in New York in 2003 at the age of 106.