The three sisters were absent from their father's funeral, and Nixon was puzzled by Chinese family affection
In April 1971, Song Ziwen went to San Francisco, USA, to meet old friends, and the old friends who had not seen each other for many years gathered together, and the atmosphere was very warm. However, just as everyone was talking, Song Ziwen suddenly died of suffocation due to food inhalation into the trachea, which was very sad.
Although his unexpected death caused grief to his family and friends, it also made Nixon see an opportunity to build good relations with China. So, Nixon, who was on vacation, decided to hold a funeral for Song Ziwen in person, and sent an invitation to the three sisters of the Song family, inviting them to come to the United States to attend Song Ziwen's funeral.
However, unexpectedly, the three sisters of the Song family were all absent from Song Ziwen's funeral. Nixon was puzzled by this, saying, "I really can't understand you Chinese." ”
Song Ziwen's death is heartbreaking, but it has also sparked some reflection and discussion.
Song Ziwen, a prominent figure in the epicenter, was born in Shanghai in 1894. He was the brother of the three Song sisters, the second sister Soong Ching-ling and the third sister Soong Meiling were married to two important figures in modern Chinese history, Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, respectively, and the eldest sister Soong Ai-ling became the wife of Kong Xiangxi.
Song Ziwen himself is also talented, has made remarkable achievements in finance, politics, diplomacy and other fields, and has always been at the core of Chinese politics. He got involved in **, thanks to the recommendation of his second sister Song Qingling, when Sun Yat-sen was looking for a talented person who was good at finance, Song Qingling recommended Song Ziwen to Sun Yat-sen and asked him to be his secretary.
However, in just one year, Song Ziwen was recognized by Sun Yat-sen with his talent in the financial field and was appointed as the president of ** Bank.
After the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Soong Tzu-wen, as the continuator of his legacy, continued to rise in status within the Kuomintang, and soon became a leader in the financial world. Subsequently, with the emergence of Chiang Kai-shek in **, Song Ziwen and Chiang Kai-shek began a cooperation that lasted for more than 20 years.
During this period, Soong Ziwen has always played an important role in Chiang Kai-shek's important military advisor and financial resources. However, their cooperation was not all smooth sailing, and there were even physical altercations, and quarrels were commonplace in their daily lives.
The fundamental reason for this is that they have different political views, but they are driven by interests, and they have to choose to cooperate. However, once the interests are gone, their relationship cannot be sustained.
In 1949, when the Kuomintang regime collapsed, Soong did not flee to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek, but immigrated to the United States with his family and lived a reclusive life. Even though Chiang Kai-shek invited him to return to Taiwan many times, he still insisted on not returning, and was even expelled from the Kuomintang for this.
He stuck to his way of life, away from officialdom and politics, and enjoyed a quiet old age. In the United States, he had little contact with his sisters, believing that "the Tao is not the same."
On April 25, 1971, Song Ziwen attended a banquet hosted for him by an old friend, and despite his advanced age, he was still in a very good spirit.
At the party, Song Ziwen and his old friends gathered together, and the atmosphere was warm and cheerful. The old friends specially invited the famous Cantonese chef for Song Ziwen, and the food and laughter made the atmosphere more harmonious.
However, just when everyone was enjoying the food and talking about old things, Song Ziwen suddenly became silent, his face turned red, his hands clutched his throat, and his eyes rolled white. His lady immediately ran to him, stroked his chest, and anxiously called his name.
However, Song Ziwen was no longer able to answer, and his throat made a "cluck, cluck" sound. Old friends immediately called the emergency **, but when the doctor arrived, Song Ziwen had already passed away regrettably.
The cause of death was suffocation due to food getting stuck in the trachea.
Song Ziwen's sudden death shocked the White House, and Nixon's reaction was even more unexpected. He gave up his vacation and decided to hold a funeral for the Chinese.
At that time, the United States was trying to ease relations with China, and Soong's death provided them with a possible opportunity. Song Ziwen is the younger brother of Vice Chairman Soong Ching Ling, and according to Chinese custom, relatives and friends will attend the funeral when a loved one dies, especially a close relative.
Therefore, as long as Soong Ching-ling comes to the United States, the United States will have the opportunity to have close contact with her, so as to get closer to China's friendly relations.
Nixon sent an invitation to the three Soong sisters for Soong's funeral, but failed to do so. This puzzled Nixon, who could not understand why the Chinese, who valued family affection the most, would be absent from his brother's funeral.
So, why did the three sisters of the Song family make such a decision? The reason is unknown.
Song Ailing, the daughter of the Song family, has shown extraordinary financial management talents since she was a child, is deeply favored by her father, and has the financial power of the Song family. Her long-term position of power has made her very domineering.
However, as Song Ziwen and the sons of the Song family grew up, the two had a conflict over the distribution of family rights, and the marriage between Song Ailing and Kong Xiangxi deepened this contradiction.
Song Ziwen looked down on Kong Xiangxi from the bottom of his heart and thought that he was not worthy of his eldest sister, so he had prejudices against Kong Xiangxi from the beginning. And the marriage between Song Meiling and Chiang Kai-shek was the source of the first contradiction between Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi.
Soong Ziwen was adamantly opposed to his sister Soong Meiling marrying Chiang Kai-shek, but the marriage was strongly supported by Kong Xiangxi and Soong Ailing.
In 1933, the contradiction between Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi intensified, which eventually led to a break between the two. The trigger for this conflict was Chiang Kai-shek, because Soong Ziwen and Chiang Kai-shek had political differences, and he opposed the large-scale military spending caused by the "suppression of the Communists", which led to a serious fiscal deficit.
The altercation eventually turned into a physical altercation, and Soong resigned as finance minister and vice president of the Executive Yuan. Originally, Song Ziwen hoped to use this to restrain Chiang Kai-shek, but he did not expect that Chiang Kai-shek quickly appointed Kong Xiangxi to replace him.
Although Kong Xiangxi finally persuaded Song Ziwen, both of them were left with mustard in their hearts, but they did not express it publicly.
Chiang Kai-shek had a discerning eye and had long seen the contradiction between Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi. He skillfully exploited this to further intensify the dispute between Song and Kong. Since then, the long-term open and secret struggle between Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi has begun.
Due to the contradictions between them, although Song Ziwen and Song Ailing's family live in the same place in the United States, they do not communicate with each other. Even Kong Xiangxi's funeral, Song Ziwen did not attend.
When Ms. Soong received Nixon's invitation, she was caught in a rut. She wanted to attend her brother's funeral because she and his brother had a kinship that was thicker than water. However, she was angry when she remembered that her brother had not attended her husband's funeral.
When I was hesitating, Song Meiling called me ** and said not to attend Song Ziwen's funeral. I was content not to go to my brother's funeral. Song Meiling and her brother Song Ziwen have had a very close relationship since childhood, Song Ziwen has always loved her, as long as it is Song Meiling's request, he will try his best to meet it.
However, this close brother-sister relationship was rift due to the marriage with Chiang Kai-shek. Although Chiang Kai-shek married Song Meiling as he wished, he knew Song Ziwen's opposition to this marriage, so he had complaints about this eldest brother.
As mentioned earlier, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Ziwen sometimes fought because of their different political views. At this time, the most difficult thing to do was Song Meiling who was sandwiched in the middle. Since marrying Chiang Kai-shek, Song Meiling has done the most to mediate the conflict between her brother Song Ziwen and her husband Chiang Kai-shek.
Song Meiling was torn between her relatives and power, and her brother's grievances and her husband's unreasonableness made her in a dilemma and unable to make a choice. Although Song Ziwen was her once beloved brother, she already had only her husband Chiang Kai-shek in her heart.
Chiang Kai-shek put her at the center of power and enjoyed the feeling of the stars holding the moon, all of which made it impossible for her to withdraw. This kind of abandonment of family affection and the pursuit of power transformation disappointed Song Ziwen, and the relationship between the two broke down.
In 1942, Soong Ziwen resolutely opposed Soong Meiling seeking help from the United States to resist Japan, but Soong Meiling insisted on going her own way. Since then, the two have all but disappeared.
In 1971, when Soong Meiling received Nixon's invitation to attend the funeral of her brother Soong Ziwen, she was surprised, but at the same time a little delighted.
After all, the United States had been cold to Chiang Kai-shek and his wife for a long time, and Nixon had repeatedly made overtures to Chinese mainland after coming to power, and seemed to have lost interest in the Chiang family. Therefore, does Soong Meiling's receipt of this invitation mean that the United States' attitude towards the Chiang family has changed?
Song Meiling had already learned the news of her brother's death and was about to go to the funeral, after all, this was her own brother. Nixon's invitation, however, made her hesitate.
As a woman who has been active in the ** center for a long time, her political sensitivity has caught her in contradictions.
After all, Ziwen is your own brother, and the dead are the greatest, so we should put aside the past grievances and face them with a reconciled attitude. Of course, you can also take the opportunity to meet with Nixon and improve Sino-US relations. ”
Soong Meiling gladly accepted the invitation, but halfway through the flight, she received an urgent telegram from Chiang Kai-shek, asking her not to go to New York, because there was news that her second sister Soong Ching-ling was also planning to go to the United States to attend the funeral, and Soong Ching-ling was now an important leader of the People's Republic of China, and the United States was actively engaging with the CCP, so Chiang Kai-shek hoped that she would avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings.
The core idea of the new copy is: Chiang Kai-shek hoped that Soong Meiling could attend Soong Ziwen's funeral with a conciliatory attitude and take this opportunity to improve Sino-US relations, but because Soong Ching-ling's participation may cause misunderstanding, Chiang Kai-shek hoped that Soong Meiling would avoid going to New York and fly directly to Hawaii.
Song Meiling very much wants to see the second sister and eldest sister who have not been seen for a long time, but their political positions are different and they belong to different camps. If they were to appear at Soong Tzu-wen's funeral, the difference would have been exaggerated, which would have dealt a fatal blow to the reputation and status of the KMT.
Therefore, Song Meiling resolutely decided not to attend her brother's funeral and told her eldest sister not to go either. As a result, both Song Meiling and Song Ailing were absent from Song Ziwen's funeral. Song Qingling is Song Ziwen's guide on **.
Initially, Soong Ziwen and Soong Ching-ling shared the same views, but after Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal of the revolution, they criticized him together on several occasions.
With the rise of Chiang Kai-shek's power, Soong Ziwen left the path of revolution and joined Chiang Kai-shek's camp instead. Although Soong Ching-ling was angry at his brother's betrayal of the revolution, this did not affect the family relationship between their siblings.
Although they were in two places, Song Ziwen still often sent some supplements to his sister, because he knew that his sister was not in good health, and he could not buy high-quality supplements in the mainland at that time.
When Soong Ching-ling received an invitation to go to the United States to attend Soong Ziwen's funeral, she immediately applied to the organization to go to the United States, but at that time, China and the United States had not yet formally established diplomatic relations, and China did not have direct flights to the United States.
Although the organization tried to coordinate a chartered flight to take Soong Ching Ling to his brother's funeral, it was unable to make the trip due to time constraints. Although Song Qingling wanted to go to the United States, due to a lack of transportation, she was unable to make the trip, and she was unable to attend the funeral of her younger brother Song Ziwen.
The three sisters of the Song family were unable to attend the funeral of their younger brother Song Ziwen for various reasons, and only his widow, children and younger brother Song Ziliang attended. For Song Ziwen, is this a pity?
His own sisters were not able to accompany him on the last journey of his life, and although the reasons were different, the results were lamentable.