In China's modern history, Chiang Kai-shek is a very important figure. Although he has many personal shortcomings and has done some not very good things, his positive influence is also indelible. Born in 1887 into a salt merchant family, he studied in Japan at the age of 21 and became the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy at the age of 37. In the subsequent fight against warlords and anti-Japanese resistance, he made an indelible contribution.
Unfortunately, after the War of Resistance Against Japan, he turned his gun on the Communists and launched a civil war, but he did not expect that stealing chickens would not become erosion of rice, and it was himself who ultimately failed. He continued to live in Taiwan for more than two decades, and finally died in 1975 at the age of 89.
In his later years, Chiang Kai-shek was tormented by illness and had reached the point of blood in his stool.
After the age of eighty, Chiang Kai-shek's body gradually began to malfunction. The roof leaked during the overnight rain. In the summer of 1969, something like this happened again.
Originally, Chiang Kai-shek usually lived in the Shilin official residence, but the summer was very hot, and every year, he had to go to the Yangmingshan official residence to escape the summer. In order to facilitate the migration back and forth, he also specially built a road for himself on Yangming Mountain.
One day in July, he and Song Meiling took some retinue, drove a car, and a group of people went to the yangmingshan official residence.
Halfway through, the two cars in the convoy accidentally collided together, affecting the car of Chiang Kai-shek and his wife. Poor Chiang Kai-shek, who was in his eighties, was hit by the windshield at once under the huge impact force, and his chest was severely damaged, and his lower body was also injured.
Song Meiling, who was sitting next to him, was also not spared. It was also in this incident that her leg fell ill, and as soon as the weather changed, it would faintly hurt.
Fortunately, after the car accident, they were taken to the hospital in time. But even after careful treatment, Chiang Kai-shek's body could not return to its previous appearance.
Within two years, his next three roads also began to have problems. The most obvious symptom is that he has blood in the urine. Of course, this is because he has prostate surgery. After the doctor's examination, he told him that this was a sequelae and did not need to be overly worried. But how could Chiang Kai-shek not be worried? He also knew that his body had always had some small problems, but it had not been so serious before, and the reason why the situation had become like this was because he was old and his body was really not working.
It didn't seem like a big problem with the blood in the urine, but it was just a signal that his various organs were about to strike.
What a terrible thing. Chiang Kai-shek decided to stop all this. Or at least delay it. So, he called in American experts and used electrical therapy to burn the problematic part of the prostate to death.
Since then, the problem of blood in the urine has been temporarily alleviated, but it has relapsed within a year and has become more serious. What used to be just blood clots is now a blood clot. Chiang Kai-shek was even more frightened. But doctors, including American experts, said that this was a normal phenomenon after surgery and could not be cured. As soon as Chiang Kai-shek heard this, he had no choice but to give up. But this incident has since become his heart disease.
What's more, during that time, Chiang Kai-shek, who was already 84 years old, even took a walk. When I walked, I always felt that I couldn't breathe, and what was even more frightening was that I couldn't control my tongue. He quickly called the doctor again to check. The doctor concluded that his blood vessels were aging and hardening, and there might be a blockage, resulting in a decrease in blood oxygen levels and insufficient oxygen in his lungs, so he felt difficult to breathe. As for the problem of the tongue, this is also the reason.
The doctor's diagnosis should be no problem. Within a few months, because of the problem of blood vessels, Chiang Kai-shek would soon be unable to walk independently. Even if you are supported, you are trembling.
In the winter, blood began to fecal. Because of severe perianal problems, I had to stay in the hospital for more than a month.
The doctor finally controlled Chiang Kai-shek's condition and cured his perianal problems. But problems with blood vessels persist. Chiang Kai-shek not only fell easily, but also suffered from heart disease. Because of the lack of blood supply, a good heart is twice as big as a normal heart.
Doctors warned him that it would be best to suspend all activities and rest for half a year. But Chiang Kai-shek is the leader of all of Taiwan, and if he disappears for half a year, who will take his place, and will the forces of all sides take the opportunity to come out and do things? Will the mainland and the United States have any bad guesses? Considering this, Chiang Kai-shek did not heed the doctor's advice and worked as usual. For heart disease, his treatment method is only to recruit a few powerful cardiovascular doctors in Taiwan, so that they can follow him and be on standby at any time.
In the summer of 1972, Chiang Kai-shek's heart disease became more and more serious, even affecting his normal diet. Every time you eat, you can't eat two bites, you have to rest for a while. Sometimes, I suddenly feel uncomfortable, and everything that is hard to eat will be spit out.
Once, he was eating lunch, eating and eating, not only vomiting, but also collapsing in his chair, panting heavily. The retinue saw the situation and quickly called the doctor. The doctor fed him a grain of numbness and had him carry him to the sofa next to him to rest. But Chiang Kai-shek was still very uncomfortable, and after a while, he simply fainted.
As early as the time when Chiang Kai-shek was initially plagued by illness, Soong Mei-ling was prepared for all this. It can be said that as Chiang Kai-shek's wife, she always waited for this day with fear, fearing that something really happened to Chiang Kai-shek and that there would be a big mess on the island of Taiwan. Therefore, upon learning of Chiang Kai-shek's coma, she launched the contingency plan that had been prepared long ago, ordering all personnel in the official residence to stop taking vacations, not to contact the outside world, and if asked by their families, they said that they had gone to the south for business.
At the same time, she immediately contacted Dr. Yu Nangeng, a heart expert in the United States, and asked him to return to Taiwan to treat Chiang Kai-shek. In addition, she also made two preparations, in case Chiang Kai-shek did not wake up, the next things would have been arranged long ago.
Five days later, Yu Nangeng returned to Taiwan, and after a preliminary understanding of Chiang Kai-shek's condition, suggested that Chiang Kai-shek be sent to the Veterans General Hospital for treatment. Song Meiling listened to Yu Nangeng's advice, sent a car, and carefully sent Chiang Kai-shek to the hospital. On the way, in order to prevent the body bumps from endangering Chiang Kai-shek's life, there were only a dozen kilometers in total, and it took more than an hour to complete.
At the hospital, Chiang Kai-shek was admitted to Ward Six. This was originally a special ward specially set up for Chiang Kai-shek, with the most advanced medical facilities in Taiwan. At the same time, Song Meiling, Chiang Ching-kuo and others also stayed in case of an accident.
In the following months, Chiang Kai-shek spent a very dangerous period and almost died.
Although after careful care, he finally recovered a life, but his health was even worse, and he could no longer smoothly control his right hand. However, everything in Taiwan is still running, and for the sake of stability, his poor physical condition is not allowed to be made public. What's more, even if it is secret, because of the long-term illness, all walks of life in Taiwan have already brewed all kinds of speculations, and rumors are flying all over the world.
In this case, in order to hide this secret, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling, especially the 86-year-old Chiang Kai-shek, were almost once treated like puppets. The puppet here does not refer to the puppet in the puppet regime. Rather, Chiang Kai-shek, unable to skillfully manipulate his limbs or even speak fluently, really became like a puppet at the mercy of others.
For example, in November 1973, when the Fourth Plenary Session of the Tenth Central Committee of the Kuomintang was convened, Chiang Kai-shek was seriously ill and did not attend the meeting in person. But as the head of the Kuomintang, he could not really not show his face. After the meeting, party and government officials came to visit him, and in order to cover up his illness, an aide-de-camp came up with a brilliant plan: to dress Chiang Kai-shek and then use transparent tape to fix his right hand to the arm of the chair.
The trick worked. When everyone came in, Chiang Kai-shek greeted him with his left hand, and it seemed that there was no problem. Later, using the same method, he received a number of other officials. Both of these events were widely reported in the media. It is precisely because of this that the rumors have gradually subsided.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's physical condition really did not allow him to continue to work as before. At the end of the year, his health recovered somewhat and he intended to be discharged from the hospital to recuperate. In the following days, he gradually faded from people's sight. In the three major festivals of Christmas, New Year's Day, and Chinese New Year's Eve on Taiwan Island, there has been no news except for a New Year's Day message.
When everyone sees this situation, the rumors will rise again. In order to suppress these rumors, Song Meiling simply did everything in her power. Not only did he arrange a program for Chiang Kai-shek on television, which was specifically used to prove that he was in good health.
On the birthday of Chiang Kai-shek's great-granddaughter Jiang Yousong, he also took a special family portrait and released it to the outside world to try to confirm that Chiang Kai-shek was still alive and in good health.
In fact, although Chiang Kai-shek is still alive, he is already half dead. Of course, the physical condition, resistance and other aspects are worse. In the winter of 1974, Chiang Kai-shek was infected with the flu, the high fever continued to recede, fell into a semi-coma again, had no choice, and lived in Ward Six for a long time, after the full rescue of medical staff, and finally got out of danger.
During this period, Song Meiling continued to create the illusion of Chiang Kai-shek's good health to the public, as before. This slightly absurd lie reached its peak in 1975. That year, the US ambassador to Taiwan, Ma Kangwei, was about to return to China, hoping to meet Chiang Kai-shek one last time before leaving.
As early as the first two years, Ma Kangwei had been making this request, but Chiang Kai-shek's condition was mixed and bad, and Song Meiling did not want to expose his condition, so he found an excuse to refuse. It is precisely because the Americans have not seen Chiang Kai-shek for a long time that they feel that he is seriously ill and even will soon die. Only then did Ma Kangwei see Chiang Kai-shek before returning to the United States and learn his true physical condition.
When Song Meiling saw that if she continued to refuse, it would be equivalent to confirming the suspicions of the Americans and being unfavorable to the overall situation in Taiwan.
But in this reception, Chiang Kai-shek has completely become a puppet, a symbol.
He was placed on the sofa in the center of the living room, with Song Meiling sitting next to him. After Ma Kangwei's arrival, Chiang Kai-shek could only barely say some simple words, and even the sentences could not be connected. Thanks to Song Meiling in the name of an interpreter next to her, she saw the opportunity and danced with long sleeves, so she fooled Ma Kangwei. In fact, the words she said were not translations at all, but her own free play.
It was not easy, and the reception was over. Of course, Chiang Kai-shek could not get up to send guests, and everything was done by Song Meiling. As soon as Ma Kangwei left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone here is not only referring to Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling, in fact, at the time of the reception, in order to avoid any accident of Chiang Kai-shek, there were medical team members and retinues lurking nearby, ready to be called.
After that, Chiang Kai-shek was still in a state of half-death, and there was actually no difference between him and the dead. His condition, although not continuing to deteriorate, did not improve. Song Meiling was very worried about this, and after being introduced, she found another American expert. Experts believe that Chiang Kai-shek is like this because most of his lungs are in the pleural effusion, and it is recommended to do surgery to extract the effusion.
Members of Chiang Kai-shek's medical team were very opposed to this proposal. Because they are also well aware that Chiang Kai-shek's pleural effusion is very serious, but considering that he is almost 90 years old. This is a major operation, Chiang Kai-shek is on the operating table, not necessarily down. Even if you get along, it can lead to strong complications that can be life-threatening.
But Song Meiling could no longer tolerate this state. In her opinion, without surgery, Chiang Kai-shek is also like this, and after doing it, there is still a possibility of getting better. It is better to use a dead horse as a live horse doctor, just try it.
But the attempt ultimately failed. Although the operation was successful, on the night of the operation, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly developed a high fever and began to urinate on a large scale the next day. This time, it is not that there is blood in the urine, the root of the urine is blood. Because of excessive blood loss, 250cc plasma had to be quickly replenished to barely maintain vital signs.
Not only that, after the operation, Chiang Kai-shek's heart condition was even worse, often stopping beating, and the interval became shorter and shorter, reaching several times overnight. The bad situation even made Chiang Kai-shek feel that he did not have many days to live, so he quickly took advantage of the fact that he was still conscious, and confessed his will step by step.
A few months later, on the day of the Tomb Sweeping Festival, Chiang Kai-shek's state improved a lot, and early in the morning, he also listened to Chiang Ching-kuo's report on his work. However, by noon, the weather gradually became hotter, and Chiang Kai-shek also became irritable, not saying a word, getting up for a while, lying down for a while, capricious, tossing and turning very badly.
In the evening, Chiang Ching-kuo finished dinner and came to chat with Chiang Kai-shek for a while. Seeing that his father seemed a little tired, Chiang Ching-kuo said, "Daddy! Rest when you're tired!
At the same time, let the doctor give Chiang Kai-shek a few tranquilizers so that Chiang Kai-shek can sleep better.
Previously, because of the great pressure, Chiang Kai-shek had a long-term habit of taking sleeping pills or tranquilizers. Because of this, it caused irreversible damage to his heart. Since he was diagnosed with heart disease, doctors have stopped giving him similar medication. Each time, it is nominally a sleeping pill or tranquilizer, but in fact it is a vitamin or the like. But Chiang Kai-shek did not know this, thinking that he had taken medicine and had a positive psychological hint that it would help sleep every time.
After taking the medicine, Chiang Kai-shek went to bed. At 20:55 p.m., Chiang Kai-shek suddenly stopped beating. The medical staff on duty immediately carried out rescue, but in the end it was useless. A generation of tyrants Chiang Kai-shek passed away in this way.