Song Ailing and her husband Kong Xiangxi were the "money tycoons" of the ** period, and they accumulated a lot of wealth by virtue of their power. These fortunes allowed her to live a life of luxury, and many people were full of curiosity and speculation about her life.
So, just how luxurious is her lavish life?
In 1904, at the age of 15, Song Ailing went to study at Wesleyan Women's College in the United States under the arrangement of her father, becoming the first Chinese female student in the history of the college.
Despite her privileged family and fancy dress, she is not keen on social activities, preferring to be alone and contemplating the world around her.
This group photo of the three sisters reveals their habit of judging each other's family background by their appearance. Among them, as the eldest daughter, Song Ailing is very strong, and she is usually able to speak up among her sisters, and even when she encountered unfair treatment abroad, she bravely went to see Roosevelt in the United States at that time and loudly expressed her injustice and discrimination.
In 1910, Song Ailing returned to China, and her father, Song Jiashu, hoped that she would marry the Confucian family in Shanxi. The Confucian family has been in business in Shanxi for generations, and their wealth accumulation once made them the richest people in Shanxi.
Although Kong Xiangxi's father's generation spent all the wealth of his ancestors because of opium smoking, Kong Xiangxi once redeemed the family's decline with his own ability and became a hot young businessman at that time.
Song Jiashu was attracted by Kong Xiangxi's talent, but her heart had long belonged to Sun Yat-sen, and she developed a deep affection for Sun Yat-sen when she was Sun Yat-sen's secretary. Despite the huge age gap between the two, she expressed her love to Sun Yat-sen more than once, but Sun Yat-sen had no feelings for her and politely rejected her feelings for one reason.
In addition to her deep love for Sun Yat-sen, Song Ailing's desire to become the leader's wife was also the main reason why she chose Kong Xiangxi. When his father Song Jiashu fell ill and the eldest son in the family was too young to take on the heavy responsibilities of the family, Song Ailing faced great pressure.
After weighing the pros and cons, she took a fancy to Kong Xiangxi's family background and wealth, especially when she went to Kong Xiangxi's hometown for the first time, the luxurious courtyard and numerous servants gave her a deeper understanding of Kong Xiangxi's value.
In 1914, Song Ailing married Kong Xiangxi in Japan. After marriage, Song Ailing recommended her sister Song Qingling to Sun Yat-sen as a secretary, but she didn't expect them to become husband and wife, which made her deeply touched.
Since then, she has seen the great value of this kind of marriage, and has tried her best to promote the marriage between Soong Meiling and Chiang Kai-shek. Through the marriage of these two younger sisters, the Song family rose to the highest position.
With political convenience, the Confucian family jumped from the richest local tyrant in Shanxi to a wealthy businessman, and also became a veritable richest man in the ** period. Because of the help of Chiang Kai-shek's brother-in-law, Kong Xiangxi's business went smoothly all the way.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Kong family took the opportunity to make a lot of profits. When the Pacific War broke out, the United States** decided to provide China with a loan of 500 million US dollars to support China's war of resistance, and the people** stipulated that the exchange ratio of US dollar public bonds and fiat currency was 1:20, that is, every 1 US dollar could be exchanged for 20 fiat currency.
As long as the Anti-Japanese War is won, these public bonds can be exchanged for US dollars, and this task is given to Kong Xiangxi. Sadly, however, by 1943, sales of the National Salvation Bond were only about $43 million, far from the expected sales.
After all, many were not optimistic about the situation of the Kuomintang ** and did not believe that Chiang Kai-shek would keep his promises. At the same time, as the war dragged on, prices continued to **, and in the case of excessive issuance of fiat currency, the currency depreciated sharply.
Due to the sharp increase in the exchange ratio between fiat currency and the US dollar, 20 fiat currency can be exchanged for 1 dollar, but now 200 fiat currency is required, which is obviously unsustainable.
Song Ailing saw this opportunity and obtained benefits by instructing Kong Xiangxi to stop ** US dollar public debt.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Kong Xiangxi took advantage of his power and secretly made a large amount of public debt in the name of stabilizing the value of fiat currency, and obtained windfall profits of 11.5 million US dollars, equivalent to 26 legal currency4.7 billion, making a lot of money for himself.
In addition, he also used the Dodge trucks aided by the United States for personal use, and used these trucks to resell non-anti-war materials, such as cosmetics, perfumes, socks, coffee, etc., for personal gain.
These acts seriously violated the laws and regulations during the Anti-Japanese War and caused serious damage to the interests of others.
The reason why Kong Xiangxi is so unscrupulous is that he relies on the help of Song Ailing, which is why he became the richest man in the ** period. At the same time, Song Ailing herself is not idle, although she has no official position, but she relies on the prestige of the Kong Song family, as well as her rich financial resources and flexible strategies, often pay attention to the financial market and the dynamics, analyze various situations, when to intervene, when to sell, when to **, many times in the financial world caused waves.
Later, she also co-founded Seven Star Company with others, focusing on speculative transactions such as **, standard gold, cotton yarn, flour, etc., which caused many fluctuations in the trading market and manipulated the market**.
Song Ailing once showed her strength in the financial market, she released the news, the issuance of new bonds and the adjustment of the interest rate of the old bonds, many small investors heard the news, have sold the old bonds in the market, resulting in the old bonds***
However, Song Ailing took the opportunity to buy it aggressively, and a few days later, using her abundant funds, she released the news of coaxing **, which caused the public debt** to skyrocket again, and earned more than 30 million yuan in just a few days.
Her behavior made many people bankrupt, although some people expressed resentment towards her and was attacked by **, but because of Chiang Kai-shek's protection, others were helpless against her.
After having money, the Kong family owned two luxury mansions in Shanghai, located on Xiafei Road and West Eryth Road in the French Concession. The two two-storey Western-style buildings are lavishly decorated and the houses are richly furnished and surrounded by gardens.
The bedrooms are strictly forbidden as there are many safes.
This luxury home in Shanghai is known for its excellent service team. These teams are made up of more than 60 professionals, including butlers, housekeepers, valets, maids, Chinese and Western chefs, porters, messengers, gardeners, drivers and guards, who are committed to satisfying the needs of each and every one of our valued customers.
During the Sino-Japanese War, the Confucian family's official residence in Chongqing was a highlight of southern China, and in addition to their luxurious residence in Shanghai, the Confucian family also had a Chinese and Western residence in Nanjing.
However, Song Ailing only lived here occasionally, and hurried back to Shanghai after a day or two, while Kong Xiangxi often lived here.
Song Ailing's family lives in a mansion in Shanghai and is very particular about food. Everyone has their own breakfast rules, such as drinking milk if you like milk, drinking coffee if you like coffee, and eating snacks if you like snacks.
Kong Xiangxi's breakfast was personally set by Song Ailing, including a bowl of protein bird's nest soup and some high-end dim sum every day, while Song Ailing had to drink a bowl of pearl powder bird's nest soup.
Lunch must be enjoyed by the whole family, usually six dishes and two soups, raw and cooked, hot and cold. Kong Xiangxi is a native of Shanxi, likes to eat Shanxi noodles and pancakes, and also likes to drink Shanxi old vinegar, but Song Ailing and his children don't like these and only like to eat Wuxi rice.
Song Ailing's daily life is very exquisite, from diet to daily life, everything is meticulous. Her dining table is often equipped with feasts, a small banquet a day, a large banquet every three days, and the entertainment is all important guests or card friends.
Her food and drinks are all Cantonese dishes specially prepared in the kitchen or Guansheng Garden according to her preferences. The Kong family has three chefs, one in charge of Shanghainese, one Western, and one in Shanxi, to add deliciousness to Soong's table.
In terms of food, Song Ailing paid great attention to hygiene, and before eating, the maid had to chase away flies, and if the flies landed in the dishes or on the table, they had to be poured out or disinfected, and the person in charge of hygiene would also be reprimanded.
In terms of daily life, Song Ailing is also very particular, she likes to dress up, the materials and leather shoes and cosmetics she wears are the latest styles imported from abroad, she has to take a bath every day after breakfast, and she uses the same bath powder as the Queen of England, and the clothes are changed to new ones after a few times, especially the socks, which are very diligent, these are all purchased by Kong Xiangxi in Britain, France, Germany and other countries, and there are hundreds of pairs when you buy them.
All expenses, including straw paper and soap, were paid by the **bank, which can be said to be the private account of the Kong family at that time.
Song Ailing and Kong Xiangxi amassed too much money, and even extended their ** to the assistance of the allies to China. Truman has publicly stated that 7 of the $3.8 billion in U.S. aid to China is out$500 million was embezzled by Kong Xiangxi without permission; Of the $500 million donated by the United States, $300 million was exchanged by Soong Ailing for ** storage in the United States.
Chiang Kai-shek, under pressure from the United States, was unable to protect them and began to alienate the Confucian family. In 1944, Soong had a premonition that Kong Xiangxi's political prospects were getting bleaker, so he began to secretly transfer assets.
In 1947, she began to look for an overseas residence under the pretext of helping Soong Meiling go abroad for medical treatment, and eventually bought a villa on Independence Avenue in Riverdale, USA.
Song Ailing and Kong Xiangxi fled to the United States, although they lived a worry-free life, but they were concerned about their homeland, the mainland could not go back, Taiwan was not welcome, the United States ** and reporters often mocked, Song Ailing's health deteriorated, especially after Kong Xiangxi died of illness, she was even more lonely, living like a year.
On October 19, 1973, Song Ailing died at the age of 85 at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.