In 1901, Chiang Kai-shek married Mao Fumei, and the two had a son, chiang Ching-kuo. However, Chiang Ching-kuo's birth did not succeed in saving the broken marriage, and Chiang Kai-shek chose to end this loveless marriage in 1922, after which Chiang Ching-kuo welcomed several stepmothers.
In December 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling got married, and their romantic love story was also talked about for a long time. However, the relationship between Soong Mei-ling and Chiang Ching-kuo, who is also the most trusted person around Chiang Kai-shek, does not seem to be so close. Even when Chiang Ching-kuo died, Song Meiling did not accompany him, nor did she leave a single word, but only looked outside the door.
So, why did Song Meiling make such a move? Is the relationship between her and Chiang Ching-kuo harmonious?
Birth of the eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo
When Chiang Kai-shek was a teenager, he had special respect for his mother who had grown up with one hand, and he also obeyed his mother's arrangement. In 1901, Chiang Kai-shek, at the behest of his mother, married Mao Fumei, who was 5 years older than himself. However, there was no emotional basis between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Fumei, and they had never even seen each other before they got married.
During Chiang Kai-shek's studies, Mao Fumei's limited educational level could not give him substantial help, and the feelings between the two were relatively indifferent. Even in 1910, mao Fumei gave birth to Chiang Kai-shek's eldest son nine years after marriage, but it failed to make this already loveless marriage more secure.
Although Chiang Kai-shek loved this eldest son very much and named him Jingguo, placing high hopes on him, this did not change his desire to end the marriage. After the death of his mother, Chiang Kai-shek could no longer bear this illusory marriage and chose to take the initiative to end it. After that, Mao Fumei stayed in his hometown to run the Jiang family's ancestral business until his unfortunate death under Japanese bombing in 1939.
Because Chiang Kai-shek was busy with the revolutionary cause for many years, Chiang Ching-kuo's impression of his father in his childhood was not very deep, and the wives chiang kai-shek married after him were relatively young, so Chiang Ching-kuo's feelings for the several stepmothers he ushered in were also relatively indifferent. Even because of the abandonment of his mother and even the tragic death of his own, Chiang Ching-kuo still held a grudge against several of his stepmothers, and the relationship only maintained superficial harmony.
A discordant "mother-child relationship"
In 1927, chiang kai-shek, on the one hand, for his own political future, on the other hand, also admired Soong Meiling in his heart, so he decided to marry the once-powerful Song family, and even in order to gain the affirmation and support of the Song family, he did not hesitate to agree to all the demands made by the Song family.
It was also in this year that Chiang Kai-shek officially broke off relations with his previous wives and held a grand wedding with Soong Mei-ling in December.
After this news spread, It was a sensation, and Chiang Ching-kuo, who was far away in the Soviet Union, thought of his mother who was alone in his hometown, and he couldn't help but feel sad, and he was already dissatisfied before he saw the rumored new stepmother.
At first, the relationship between Soong Mei-ling and Chiang Ching-kuo was indeed not harmonious, and even quite delicate, not so much as relatives and family members, but rather partners in maintaining superficial relations.
But Chiang Ching-kuo also knew that this political marriage was extremely important to his father, and Song Meiling's family lineage and position in the political arena determined that Chiang Ching-kuo could not interfere in this marriage at will. Therefore, for this stepmother, although Chiang Ching-kuo does not have much love in his heart, he will also respectfully shout "Lady Jiang".
In 1933, Chiang Ching-kuo returned home from the Soviet Union with his wife and daughter, and entered the Nationalist army under his father's arrangement and secret help, and soon gained some real power. However, Song Meiling and Chiang Kai-shek have not had children for a long time, so Song Meiling has gradually changed her relationship with Chiang Ching-kuo, determined to recognize this child, and indeed has a love and teaching for Chiang Ching-kuo, but because of the Soong clique behind her, it is impossible to pour all her maternal love into it.
In 1939, with the unfortunate death of Mao Fumei, a fierce quarrel broke out again between the mother and son, who had improved their relationship. Regardless of the obstruction of others, Chiang Ching-kuo put down all his work and buried his biological mother, And the relationship with Song Meiling once again fell to a freezing point.
When Chiang Ching-kuo died, Song Meiling only glanced at the door
After 1949, Chiang Ching-kuo and Soong Mei-ling got along longer in Taiwan, and the relationship between the two was warmed up by Chiang Kai-shek's mediation. But the relationship between mother and son really improved after Chiang Kai-shek's death.
In 1975, before his death, Chiang Kai-shek specifically instructed Chiang Ching-kuo to honor his mother. Faced with her father's dying instructions, coupled with the fact that there were no children between Soong Mei-ling and Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling withdrew from the vortex of power after the death of her husband and went to the United States to recuperate, so Chiang Ching-kuo slowly accepted this stepmother without an obvious conflict of interest with Soong Mei-ling. Since then, there have also been telephone exchanges between the two, and Chiang Ching-kuo will often respectfully shout "Mu Ma" during the call.
In January 1988, when Chiang Ching-kuo was dying, he desperately wanted his family to accompany him. Song Meiling naturally came to his residence, but she did not accompany Jiang Jingguo like other relatives, and did not even enter the door, but only looked inward at the bedroom door and turned to leave.
There are rumors that in Chiang Ching-kuo's room, there is a portrait hanging, and the person in the painting is Chiang Ching-kuo's birth mother, Mao Fumei, so he did not enter the room.
Because of Song Meiling's family lineage and influence, and his own great charm, when later generations mention Chiang Kai-shek's wife, they often think of Song Meiling for the first time, and even the original Mao Fumei who gave birth to the eldest son is not well known to ordinary people.
Although Song Meiling and Chiang Ching-kuo are named mother and son, and they are the most trusted people around Chiang Kai-shek, the relationship between the two is not as harmonious as that of ordinary mother and son, but is very complicated and delicate because of the conflict of interests mixed behind them.