Soong Mei-ling and Chiang Kai-shek often showed a very loving appearance before and after them, but all this could not hide the melodious mouth full of doubts, and everyone knew that this was a complete political transaction.
The gossip about Song Meiling has never disappeared. People are always accustomed to discussing the emotional past of such a famous woman after tea and dinner.
After Chiang Kai-shek's defeat and escape to Taiwan, with the decline of the four major families, people's discussion of Song Meiling's emotional past gradually became fierce.
People no longer have to estimate the power of the Jiang and Song families, so many rumors about Song Meiling's emotional experience have followed. In particular, people show great curiosity about who Song Meiling's first love is.
Whether Song Meiling's mysterious lover during her time in the United States really has her own person
In "The Song Dynasty" written by Higrew Stenin, a student named Peter Lee is explicitly mentioned, and this international student named Peter Lee was also Song Meiling's titular fiancé and first love boyfriend.
A similar claim is found in the American writer EMILYHAHN in his book The Song Family.
In the book "The Song Family", it is written: "A Chinese student saw her. This student, who was thinking about his motherland all the time, stared at this young girl and could not help but revel in the reverie of his future life. ”
Although the latter does not specify who the young man who admired Song Meiling was named, there are many consistencies in the character characteristics of Peter Lee that the former believes.
In the book "Song Family - Father-Daughter Marriage and Family", it is not only a matter of making this statement real, but also finding a reason for such a statement.
The book believes that Song Meiling was afraid that her parents would arrange a marriage for her after returning to China, so she was engaged to a Chinese student while studying at Weisley University, of course, and the family affair did not succeed.
Most of the descriptions of Song Meiling's first love in the above works are speculative, confused, and even have imaginary elements.
Although there is a lot of self-consistent evidence in these books, because the author has many misinterpretations of historical research itself, people have also denied the claims in it.
Liu Jiwen, who has been misinformed
Whether Song Meiling had a first love during her time in the United States, the real influence comes from a "Biography of Song Meiling" based on the works of Amy Hahn.
In the book, Liu Jiwen, the mayor of Shanghai at that time, is explicitly mentioned, and when describing Chiang Kai-shek's pursuit of Song Meiling, he made this description: "For 5 years, Chiang Kai-shek, regardless of Watson's engagement to the mayor of Shanghai at the time, continued to pursue her and asked her to marry, but Song Meiling did not agree, because Mrs. Song had always opposed Chiang becoming her son-in-law. ”
The same is also said in the "Prequel to Song Meiling" by Taiwanese writer Chen Tingyi.
After the two works came out, the fact that Liu Jiwen was Song Meiling's first love boyfriend was widely adopted by scholars and the community for a while and believed that this was the truth of the matter.
But in fact, the statement that Liu Jiwen is Song Meiling's first love cannot withstand careful scrutiny. There are many doubts about this.
The views of Taiwanese biographer Wang Feng in the "Chinese and Foreign Book Digest" point out many absurd and doubtful places.
First of all, Liu Jiwen was prominent in the Nationalist government at that time, and was already a high-ranking member of the Republic of China government as early as the lifetime of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
In his lifetime, he successively served as the superintendent of the Guangdong Treasury, the director of the Guangzhou Municipal Audit Office, the director of the Quartermaster Department of the War Ministry, the auditor general of the Grand Marshal's Office, the director of the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army, the mayor of Nanjing Special City, the executive committee of the Third Central Committee of the Kuomintang, the member of the National Government Construction Committee, the representative of the "National Congress", and the national policy adviser of the "Presidential Office".
If Liu Jiwen and Song Meiling had an emotional history, how could the news be hidden. Not to mention the fact that Chiang Kai-shek personally sent someone to investigate.
Second, Chiang Kai-shek had already made friends with Liu Jiwen and others during his tenure as commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and had also received help and support from Liu Jiwen and others during his pursuit of Song Meiling.
Chiang Kai-shek In October 1927, Chiang Kai-shek visited Japan. According to many works, including "The Song Dynasty" and other works, an important reason for Chiang Kai-shek's trip to Japan this time was to persuade Soong Meiling's mother, Ni Guizhen, to agree to her marriage to Soong Meiling.
During this period, the political Ninghan split, and wang jingwei, Li Zongren and other forces grew larger. Chiang Kai-shek's purpose in continuing to acquire political capital through his marriage to the Song family was obvious.
In an interview with a Japanese reporter, Chiang Kai-shek also said: "Yu looks back on the situation on the battlefield in the past year, which is immeasurable, today he can travel in the happy land of Yunxian and Xian, sweep away the dust of war, and feel fast in his mind, as for whether to roam Europe and the United States or not, it is not decided now, and the issue of marrying Ms. Song cannot be confessed to you today, please speculate on it." ”
The last sentence, "Please speculate on the possibility of the kings", indicates that Chiang Kai-shek at this time was already deliberately creating the effect of "wanting to cover up the ming", which had the flavor of liu Bei's widely disseminated news when he crossed the river to marry Sun Xiaomei.
On Chiang Kai-shek's current visit, one of the most important figures in his company was Liu Jiwen.
If Liu Jiwen and Song Meiling had a love history, Chiang Kai-shek took Liu Jiwen to Japan to promote his marriage, I believe that neither Liu Jiwen nor Chiang Kai-shek has this grace to accept such a "threesome" story!
The last questionable point is about Liu Jiwen's history of study. In Liu Jiwen's academic resume, it is clearly mentioned that Liu Jiwen was a student from Japan and britain, and the only time he went to the United States before the marriage of Jiang and Song was only in 1923.
At that time, Liu Jiwen was already an official of the National Government, so naturally he could not be a classmate of Song Meiling, not to mention that Song Meiling had already returned to China as early as 1918.
It can be said that there is no time and space intersection between Liu Jiwen and Song Meiling, so how can the two be lovers.
After clarifying the previous statement that Liu Jiwen was Song Meiling's first love, then a new question came. Did Soong Mei Ling really have a "first love" before she met Chiang Kai-shek? If so, who is it?
Information that was released only after Song Meiling's death
In 2003, Song Meiling died, and many of her files were also made public. The most important part of this was the correspondence between Song Meiling and Mills, a close friend at Wesley Women's College in the United States, after returning to Shanghai in 1918.
Mills died in 1987, because in view of Song Meiling's own special status, Mills made a clear request before his death.
Michelle confessed that the correspondence with Song Meiling could only be made public after Song Meiling's death and with the consent of Song's descendants. This led to the absence of these key pieces of evidence before this.
As early as 1997, when Song Meiling was born 100 years ago, Taiwanese writer Tai Shan wrote a special report for the Financial Times entitled "Song Meiling's 100th Birthday".
After Song Meiling's death, she was also fortunate to receive an invitation to sort out the information of Song Meiling's life.
Therefore, TaiShan became the first person to come into contact with the correspondence between Mills and Song Meiling. Another story is mentioned in the book "Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek", written based on the contents of the letter.
In 1917, Song Meiling returned to Shanghai, and when she first returned to Shanghai, Song Meiling began to re-learn Chinese and calligraphy in order to better adapt to the Chinese life and social environment.
Unlike what other works describe, Song Meiling, who first returned to Shanghai, did not actively participate in politics, but longed for a happy marriage and love like an ordinary girl.
At that time, Song Meiling had many suitors around her, including some giants in the political and business circles. In the United States, there was a Mr. H.K. who had been pursuing Song Meiling, and Mr. H.K's father was the head of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, the largest arsenal in China at that time.
People like H.K are not uncommon around Song Meiling, but for these men who take turns to show kindness, Song Meiling does not like it. However, in the dressing of returning to Shanghai from the United States, Song Meiling met a man who really made her heart move.
Encounter with the Dutch architect Van Eiveigh
A Dutch architect named VanEiveigh became the object of Song Meiling's first secret offer. Europeans' romantic expression of love is very much for a woman like Song Meiling, who grew up drinking foreign ink. The two soon fell in love, and it wasn't long before VanEiveigh proposed to Song Meiling.
But for Song Meiling at that time, although she longed for a beautiful love, she also knew that most of the time her marriage must not be decided by herself.
In the face of VanEiveigh's sudden marriage proposal, Song Meiling was frightened at the time, and the Song family was also extremely angry about it.
For VanEiveigh's reckless marriage proposal, the Song family considered it extremely barbaric and anachronistic. In Song Meiling's recollection, "The Song family looked down on him because he was a foreigner, as if he were a barbarian." ”
Although it was already the Republic of China at that time, for a powerful family like the Song family, it was somewhat of a former dynasty legacy. Therefore, this fanatical show of love for Westerners is naturally regarded as barbaric.
At the request of her parents and family, Song Meiling could only part ways with VanEiveigh in the end. The taste of love for the first time was hit like this, making Song Meiling's attitude towards marriage and love for a long time seem very decadent.
In a letter with Mills, Song Meiling once said: "Since I can't marry someone I really like, either I won't marry or I will marry for fame and fortune." ”
At that time, Song Meiling was extremely rebellious. It's not just because love is hindered. When she first returned to Shanghai, Song Meiling had almost no free time, and spent all day immersed in the study arranged by her family.
In addition to the Chinese classical music classes arranged by her mother herself, Song Meiling needs to "shake her head and recite" and learn Chinese at home.
Song Meiling's mother was born into a classical family, and song Meiling was all a feudal society's requirement for a rich lady. The mother stipulates that she cannot leave the house alone without her sister or mother.
The completely different way of life from the United States makes Song Meiling sit on a needle every day, and she has long been accustomed to advocating freedom of American life, where can she withstand such a rule of life.
In order to escape from her family, Song Meiling also thought about going outside to work, thinking that countless new women at that time pursued the freedom and ideals of life.
But although it was already the Republic of China at that time, women were still a vulnerable group in society, and the only occupations that could be found were women workers in factories besides teaching. For Song Meiling, who has just returned from the United States, neither job is very realistic.
For a while, Song Meiling thought about becoming a newspaper reporter, but such an idea was quickly opposed by her family.
One is because being a journalist at that time was dangerous, and the second is that the family should feel that a girl's family reporters will appear all day and work with a group of men, which makes Song Meiling's mother really unacceptable.
According to Song Meiling's mother's meaning, Song Meiling should honestly be at home, waiting for the family's arrangements and then completing the marriage as soon as possible.
Song Meiling complained to Mills in her letter: "Living according to my current life, I can only embark on the road to marriage in the end." She also worries that if she gets married, her "intellect will degenerate."
Soon after, Song Qingling introduced an overseas Chinese to Song Meiling. The name of the overseas Chinese was Chen Youren, but Song Meiling had a very poor impression of him after meeting Chen Youren.
She had the impression of Chen Youren as intelligent and outstanding, but very arrogant and vain, and in a correspondence with Mills, she said: "He will come to visit my house this week, and I hope that I will not be rude when the time comes." ”
It is evident that none of the objects introduced by Song Meiling's relatives and friends are satisfactory to Song Meiling. Born in a family of the powerful, Song Meiling actually knew in her heart that her marriage was likely to become a tool for political marriage, but even then Song Meiling was absolutely unwilling to be with someone she hated.
After several so-called "blind dates" contacts, Song Meiling felt extremely disgusted with the people she saw, and had no intention of continuing to see them.
A year after returning to Shanghai, Song Meiling still often mentioned VanEiveigh in her letters with Mills. Song Meiling said that she has been in correspondence with VanEiveigh, and VanEiveigh also said that she wants to come to Shanghai to find herself.
However, although Song Meiling quarreled with her family many times, she still failed to change her family's perception of VanEiveigh, and gradually Song Meiling's hope of being with VanEiveigh was completely shattered.
Song Meiling said to Mills: "They are worried that if he comes, I will marry him, and they are really right." I want to cry on the cushion of your couch. ”
After the death of Song Meiling's father, Song Jiashu, in March 1918, Song Meiling fell in love again, this time again again, against a husband with a wife.
In her letter to Mills, she did not mention the gentleman's name, but wrote that he had been forced to marry by his family shortly after returning from the United States.
Song Meiling said in the letter: "You (Mills) know my family's views on divorce... Of course, none of us do anything humiliating, but we cherish each other but overflow with words, ah, it is a terrible thing to pay so much attention, he said, he will only be free until he goes to hell, but everything is hopeless. ”
After being completely disconnected from VanEiveigh, Song Meiling also said that the other two men had a brief relationship. One of them had roughly the same experience as Song Meiling and also returned from the United States, but the difference was that the man married someone else after returning to China under the arrangement of his family.
Song Meiling learned that there was no haste to end the relationship with the man, and Song Meiling also told the man not to do anything that would damage the reputation of each other. But as for the person's surname and name, no one has made any mention.
From this point of view, Song Meiling's first love boyfriend who married Chiang Kai-shek is VanEiveigh can basically be confirmed.
epilogue
In December 1927, Soong Mei-ling finally married Chiang Kai-shek, who was then the "Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Army." Some people say that the combination of Soong Mei-ling and Chiang Kai-shek is a complete political transaction.
Chiang Kai-shek had the intention of obtaining the support of the Soong consortium by means of his marriage with Soong Mei-ling, and it is impossible to say that Chiang Kai-shek did not like Soong Mei-ling.
Perhaps there is no romantic love between Soong Mei Ling and Chiang Kai-shek, but in each other's choice, there is enough charm for each other to amplify it into a relationship between marriage feelings.
After combining with Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling also helped Chiang Kai-shek as much as possible politically.
And those about Soong Mei-ling's early experiences, no matter how the outside world circulated, were not important to Chiang Kai-shek.
bibliography
"Song Meiling's Private Record of TaiwanEse Life: 1949-1975" Wang Feng
"A Real Song Meiling" Wang Feng
Chinese and Foreign Book Digest
The Song Family, EMILYHAHN
"Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek" Tai Shan