What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
In 1919, Through the relationship between Zhang Jingjiang and Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek expressed his intention to marry Chen Jieru to Mother Chen, and finally got mother Chen's approval. Jiang claimed to Chen Jieru that he had disassociated himself from his original concubine and concubine, and promised that "you will be my unique and legal wife." The wedding of Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Jieru was held on December 5, 1921 at the Yong'an Building in Shanghai, zhang Jingjiang was a witness, when Chiang Kai-shek was 34 years old and Chen Jieru was 15 years old.
Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Jieru divorced in 1927 and lived together for only 6 years. Chen Jieru was the wife of Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling before they married, and was also another companion after the original Mao Fumei and Yao Yecheng in the side room.
Soong Mei-ling was pushed toward Chiang Kai-shek by the shrewd Soong-young. Chiang Kai-shek, who was not good at communication, appeared mainly as a military aide of Sun Yat-sen and Xu Chongzhi before 1925, and was not widely known. At first, Song Meiling, who was completely westernized from the way of speech to the way of life, did not pay attention to Chiang Kai-shek, the "dirt bun". One day, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Jieru met Soong Mei-ling at Sun Yat-sen's Grand Marshal's Mansion, and Sun Yat-sen introduced Chiang Kai-shek and his wife to Soong Mei-ling. What Song Meiling did not expect was that after only two or three years, the relationship between Jiang and Song was exchanged between attack and defense.
In 1925, during the First Crusade, Chiang Kai-shek led the Whampoa Student Army to defeat Chen Jiongming's army and became famous in World War I. After discovering this political dark horse, Song Xialing consciously approached Chiang Kai-shek and created an opportunity for Soong Mei-ling to contact Chiang Kai-shek in an attempt to induce Chiang Kai-shek to hold the pipa another way. The power-loving Song Meiling also began to launch an offensive against Chiang Kai-shek.
One night in August 1925, Song Yiling prepared a special pigeon banquet in Kong Xiangxi's two-storey white bungalow villa to entertain Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, and invited He Xiangning and Chen Youren to accompany him. This was a dinner that had a major impact on the lives of Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Jieru and Soong Mei-ling.
For Chiang Kai-shek, this provided him with the opportunity to get close to the core decision-making level. After receiving the invitation to the banquet, he was so excited that he fidgeted with excitement, and bluntly told Chen Jieru that being close to the Song family was a matter of vital importance to him, because for many years he had been unable to get close to Sun Yat-sen as he wished, and this banquet was a good opportunity to get close to Sun Yat-sen's relatives. This meal was more important to Soong Andong and Soong Mei-ling, who carefully arranged this meal, and their original intention was to wait for an opportunity to win chiang Kai-shek. This meal was the beginning of the close ties between Jiang and Song, and the beginning of the collapse of Chen Jieru's position as Lady Jiang. Chen Jieru called the banquet "the beginning of a long conspiracy."
Soong told Chiang Kai-shek that he hoped the couple would arrive at the Kong Mansion in Guangzhou's embankment east district at three o'clock in the afternoon. Because Chiang Kai-shek still had to deal with official affairs, he arranged for Chen Jieru to go to the appointment first at three o'clock, and he did not arrive until five o'clock in the afternoon. Chen Jieru wore her best Cantonese crepe silk shirt, wore white lambskin shoes on her feet, and carried a white beaded leather bag and a sandalwood fan to Kong's house. She thought that her dress was fresh and neat, and she could win a lot of face for Chiang Kai-shek and herself, who knew that the Song sisters with ulterior motives attacked her with their outfits as a breakthrough. Before the banquet began, Chen Youren once accompanied Chen Jieru for a walk in the Garden of the Song Family, during which the Song sisters sneered at her with Chen Jieru on their backs. Song Xialing teased Chen in front of He Xiangning, saying that she was only a middle-class housewife and did not deserve to be the wife of a young and strong leader, and suggested that "we must find some way." Song Meiling said in a more sarcastic tone, "She (Chen) symbolizes a huge social divide in our country's life," but "she has her strengths, and she can be a good wife of a peasant family." The Song sisters made fun of Chen Jieru as "earth" and said that she was not worthy to be the leader's wife, which was nothing more than to highlight Song Meiling's "foreign" temperament and show her "match". He Xiangning listened to the words of the Song sisters, felt sorry for Chen Jieru, and defended: "She (Chen) is just a child who has not yet opened her mind, give her a chance to discover herself!" She'll learn. "Praise Chen Jieru is a really good woman, saying that the bad tempered Chiang Kai-shek is not worthy of such a good woman."
The Song sisters attacked Chen Jieru behind their backs, but in person they changed their strategy, familiarizing themselves with Chen Jieru and discussing with Chen the taste of clothing, clothing, and jewelry. The two did not shy away from suspicion, tacitly cooperated, and tried to spy on Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Jieru's marital life situation and the relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and the previous two wives from Chen Jieru's mouth. Chen Jieru felt the unfriendliness of the Song sisters, but did not realize the deep meaning behind it, so she was also willing to pretend to be stupid and provide some innocuous news. At the dinner, Song Xialing arranged seats with ulterior motives, took Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Jieru apart, let Chiang Kai-shek sit between her and Song Meiling, and arranged Chen Jieru between Chen Youren and He Xiangning, so as to facilitate their dedication to Chiang Kai-shek. After the banquet, the Song sisters retained Chen Jieru to stay with them at the Kong Mansion in order to further obtain information about Chiang Kai-shek's private life, but Chen Jieru did not want to entangle with them and returned home with Chiang Kai-shek.
On this night, although Chen Jieru failed to detect Song Meiling's ambition to take her own place, He Xiangning, who was familiar with personnel affairs, was keenly aware of the intentions of the Song sisters and reminded Chen Jieru to pay attention to precautions at the first time. On the afternoon of the second day of the dinner, He Xiangning called Chen Jieru to Dongshan Shuangqinglou for dinner. As soon as she saw Chen Jieru, she talked about the pigeon banquet of the Kong family the night before, criticized Chen Jieru for being too naïve and too slow to the dangers lurking around, and warned Chen Jieru to stay away from Song Xialing and Song Meiling, and to guard against Chiang Kai-shek falling into the trap of the Song sisters.
Chen Jieru was initially dismissive of He Xiangning's warning, believing that Soong Mei-ling only regarded Chiang Kai-shek as an ordinary soldier, and that Soong Mei-ling was a Christian and would not break up the couple. He Xiang woke up Chen Jieru bitterly, saying that Chiang Kai-shek had become the most important figure in Guangzhou, a big fish worth fishing, and with Song Xialing's personality, she could grasp in front of people what she could catch, which was where Chen Jieru's danger lay, and she should pay attention to prevention. Looking at He Xiangning with a serious face, Chen Jieru knew that He Xiangning was serious advice, but in her heart she did not think much of He Xiangning's statement, thinking that He Xiangning was suspicious and worried. However, in order to reassure He Xiangning, she still said that she would heed He Xiangning's advice and no longer accept the invitation of the Song sisters.
However, the young and naïve Chen Jieru is far from being the opponent of the shrewd and capable Song Meiling. With the further rise of Chiang Kai-shek's prestige and power, Soong Mei-ling also accelerated her love offensive, and finally succeeded in making the center of gravity of Chiang Kai-shek's "love balance" completely tilt towards her.
There is no doubt that without the intervention of Song Meiling, the possibility of Chen and Jiang marrying is much smaller. Some people say that Chiang Kai-shek's search for love from Soong Mei-ling is actually seeking political support from her. Chiang Kai-shek actually had deep feelings for his ex-wife, Chen Jieru, but abandoned her for political needs.
In August 1927, after negotiating terms with the Song family, Chiang Kai-shek forced Chen Jieru to leave the United States. On December 1, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling held a wedding ceremony in Shanghai that attracted chinese and foreign attention. This is a famous marriage in China's modern political history, with the three sisters of the Soong family as the link, Chiang Kai-shek successfully combined himself with the Soong family and the Kong family, and the newspapers at that time cleverly took a word from the names of "Chiang Kai-shek" and "Soong Meiling" to metaphorically describe this marriage, jokingly called "Sino-US cooperation".