Pictured| Song Meiling
preface
In October 2003, 105-year-old Song Meiling closed her eyes in the company of her relatives and ended her life!
She was the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, who launched a civil war in spite of the fervent desire of the broad masses of the people for peace. In the end, the People's Liberation Army, under the leadership of the Communist Party, heroically defeated the Kuomintang army, and Chiang Kai-shek withdrew in defeat.
Chiang Kai-shek, who is in his sixties, finally paid the price for what he did. Mrs. Song Meiling accompanied him and spent the last years...
Pictured| Soong Mei Ling and Chiang Kai-shek
Soong Ching Ling strenuously opposed Chiang Kai-shek
In 1922, Song Ziwen held a party at the home of Sun Yat-sen on Moli'ai Road in Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek was invited to come and participate, just walked into the living room, Chiang Kai-shek saw Song Meiling standing next to Soong Ching-ling, the first time the two met, the beautiful appearance made it difficult for Chiang Kai-shek to remove his eyes.
Song Meiling was wearing a noble and generous royal blue cheongsam, due to the relatively high temperature in the room, Song Meiling took off the fur shoulder that was originally draped on her shoulders, and took off the slim cheongsam, which set her off more and more beautifully.
Song Meiling sat demurely on the side, smiling at everyone who came to greet him, qingli appearance, dignified temperament, and poked Chiang Kai-shek's heart in one fell swoop.
Chiang Kai-shek's gaze always stayed on Song Meiling, and when the dancing music sounded, Chiang Kai-shek took the initiative to walk in front of Song Meiling and invited her to dance together.
At the end of a pleasant dance, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling also sat together and chatted together, Soong Mei-ling had an outstanding appearance and excellent English, and every move made Chiang Kai-shek's admiration more profound.
Pictured| Sun Yat-sen
Before leaving Sun Yat-sen's house, Chiang Kai-shek hurriedly stuffed his business card to Soong Mei-ling, and that night his throbbing heart could not be calmed, so he wrote a letter to Soong Mei-ling with a pen:
"The work is like a dream, and the love for the talent of the lady cannot be forgotten, but I don't know the wild warriors abandoned by the world, and the lady regards it, what is it called?"
After receiving the letter, Song Meiling quickly wrote back to him and accepted his overtures, thus beginning the first date between the two and the future letter of affection.
Because Song Meiling was the third oldest among the sisters, Chiang Kai-shek called her "Third Sister" in the letter, and after realizing that Song Meiling's temperament was a little cheerful and lively, he often called her "Third Brother" in the letter, as a love name.
After the two had been in contact for a long time, Chiang Kai-shek revealed to Sun Yat-sen his admiration for Soong Mei-ling, and Chiang Kai-shek hoped that Sun Yat-sen could help him as a matchmaker as a brother-in-law.
"You are in love with Mei Ling, I have no opinion, and I am willing to use the beauty of adulthood, but have you handled the affairs of the three women in your family?" Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered to come forward and open my mouth. ”
Sun Yat-sen asked.
Picture | Chen Jieru
Before meeting Soong Mei Ling, Chiang Kai-shek had a wife, as early as he was 14 years old, Chiang Kai-shek had already married Mao Fumei of the same village as his wife, and had a child, and the two separated shortly after marriage.
In 1911, Chiang Kai-shek married Yao Yecheng, and because of Yao Yecheng's social flower status, Chiang Kai-shek's mother did not recognize her identity, so she became Chiang Kai-shek's only wife and concubine without a name.
In 1919, Chiang Kai-shek became acquainted with Chen Jieru, and after pursuing them, the two came together. However, since Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling met, Chiang Kai-shek has seen different thoughts and thoughts, and his heart is full of horses, and he is no longer as good as in the past.
Chiang Kai-shek's emotional act is naturally despised by the majority of the people.
As for Chiang Kai-shek's past affairs, Sun Yat-sen knew something, so before expressing his affection to Soong Mei-ling, he must first find out Chiang Kai-shek's past feelings, that is, what he called "the matter of three women in the family."
Chiang Kai-shek explained:
"This is actually a very clear thing, but Mr. Day by day, will not care about the small things in my life, I and the original Match Mao Fumei have long been divorced, as for Yao Yecheng, she is only a concubine, and has long been out of relationship." A divorce request with his wife, Chen Jieru, is also in progress, and she is about to go to the United States and will never return. ”
Sun Yat-sen nodded, he had no opinion, and then said to Chiang Kai-shek: "I will discuss this matter with Qingling and ask for her opinion, after all, she is the one who takes the matter in their family." ”
Only then did Chiang Kai-shek put his mind at ease, and with the help of Sun Yat-sen, he was much more secure in his heart, waiting for the good news to come one day.
Pictured| Soong Ching Ling and Sun Yat-sen
What he did not expect was that Song Qingling resolutely disagreed with the combination of himself and Song Meiling.
Song Qingling firmly stated:
"I'd rather see my third sister die than marry Chiang Kai-shek."
When Sun Yat-sen saw Soong Ching-ling's resolute attitude, it was not easy to say anything more.
Chiang Kai-shek did not give up because of this, and Song Meiling's good feelings and Song Xialing's matchmaking also added great confidence to him to win this relationship. Until 1927, the birthday of Soong Meiling's mother Ni Guizhen, Chiang Kai-shek ushered in another opportunity.
On the day of Ni Guizhen's birthday, Chiang Kai-shek, dressed in a straight military uniform, brought a congratulatory gift that had been carefully prepared, and respectfully gave a big gift to the "mother-in-law and mother-in-law."
Song Meiling is a new woman who has received education, and she believes that her marriage should be decided by herself, so when her sister Song Xialing mentioned to her that day, "You know, Qingling has always disagreed with you and his association", Song Meiling immediately objected.
"This marriage matter is up to me to decide, and what does my marriage have to do with Sister Ah?"
Song Meiling said indignantly.
For Chiang Kai-shek's past, Song Meiling is not unaware, "My mother does not have much opinion, mainly because she cares that he has been married several times, I have learned that he was married, but now he has left, and there are court judgments." In his words, it can be seen that Song Meiling has full trust in Chiang Kai-shek.
At the Soong family birthday banquet, Chiang Kai-shek performed very well, and he also had a very happy conversation with all the members of the Soong family, and his affairs with Soong Meiling became more and more promising.
In September, before Chiang Kai-shek visited Japan, accompanied by Soong Ziwen, he visited Ni Guizhen again, and on that day, under the persuasion of his daughter Song Meiling, Ni Guizhen successfully put aside the mustard in his heart and agreed to the interaction between the two, and Chiang Kai-shek could not suppress his inner excitement and shouted:
"It worked, the marriage contract succeeded."
In December 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling held a grand and grand wedding in Shanghai.
The wedding was held in two parts, one at the Song family, where the whole family gathered to celebrate, and the other at the famous Majestic Hotel, where thousands of guests from all over the world attended, and the wedding was published in international newspapers.
Chiang Kai-shek has always had the habit of writing a diary, and on the day of his marriage to Soong Mei-ling, Chiang Kai-shek wrote in his diary:
"Seeing Yu Aishan come out, like a cloud falling, a love that has never been seen in his life, appeared at this time, and I don't know where Yu is."
The joy of the new marriage, Chiang Kai-shek's excitement overflowed into words.
Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling
Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling each had mansions, but if there were no special circumstances, the two lived together most of the time, but their living habits were completely different.
Chiang Kai-shek usually prepares to rest around ten o'clock in the evening, while Soong Mei Ling is a "night owl", and she will not sleep until one or two o'clock in the evening.
The next day, Chiang Kai-shek would get up on time at 6:30 a.m., and Soong Mei-ling would lie in bed until eleven o'clock, although their schedules were slightly different, but they all respected each other's habits, always light-handed, trying not to disturb each other.
Later, the two have not had children, and some people have analyzed that it is due to living habits.
After marriage, Chiang Kai-shek is really good to Soong Mei-ling, Soong Mei-ling has been studying in the United States since childhood, she especially prefers American movies, every time she watches movies, Soong Mei-ling is always fully attentive and devoted, and for Chiang Kai-shek, watching movies is an optional activity.
As long as Chiang Kai-shek is at home at night, he will watch movies with his wife, Soong Mei Ling, and Chiang Kai-shek's move is just to accompany his wife, and he has little interest in movies.
Chiang Kai-shek patiently sat next to Song Meiling and watched with her, usually for tens of minutes, and the hands of the clock were about to reach nine o'clock, and Chiang Kai-shek would say goodnight to his wife and then go upstairs to rest.
Every Christmas, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Ching-ling are used to going to the hotel to hold banquets, Chiang Kai-shek does not smile, every time he walks in front of people, there is always a feeling of fear, but his wife Song Meiling will not, she has a beautiful temperament, a gentle temperament, and the entourage is also willing to communicate with her.
As long as His wife Soong Meiling was present, Chiang Kai-shek would hardly lose his temper, and the people around him would relax, but Chiang Kai-shek knew that he often made everyone feel very constrained, so he always said that he had something temporary and left first.
Hou Minggao, who often served Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling, later recalled the scene of the couple being together:
"A man of good manners, not smiling, one approachable, never commanding. If two people are together, they are hugging each other, and no one should try to get close to them. ”
As Hou Minggao said, Soong Mei-ling's gentleness just made up for chiang kai-shek's explosive and irritable personality.
Once, when Chiang Kai-shek was walking on the road and happened to encounter four people huddled on a military tricycle, and one of the four people was wearing plain clothes, Chiang Kai-shek was instantly furious and immediately ordered that the man be arrested and even "shot" to him.
Why was Chiang Kai-shek so angry? At that time, accidents on the Burma Highway using military materials were frequent, and after some investigation, it was found that the cause of the accident was related to "overloading" and was often forbidden to commit crimes, so when Chiang Kai-shek noticed this situation, he was very angry.
But the punishment of "shooting" was really serious, and after Song Meiling listened, she hurried to find Zhang Zhizhong, who was the director of the attendant room at the time, and said: "Brother Wen Bai (Zhang Zhizhong, ziwen Bai), I heard that Dean Wen was going to shoot a person, that person was a student of the school of the remnants, but there was no crime, you help to think of a way, okay?" ”
The school took in the children of many martyrs who died in the revolution, with Song Meiling as the principal and Zhang Zhizhong as the chairman.
Later, under the communication between Song Meiling and Zhang Zhizhong, the child who was arrested made the mistake of violating traffic rules, and was not "shot", but was sent to the military judicial director and temporarily detained, which was also a warning to him.
With Soong Ching Ling turning from the middle, Chiang Kai-shek finally did not "shoot" the child, and he was released. Chiang Kai-shek's handling of things is indeed explosive and irritable!
Chen Cheng, a senior Kuomintang general, once mentioned the interesting little details of Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling's previous period, and he noticed that every time Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to his wife, Soong Mei-ling, he was in his office, translating word by word.
If someone broke in halfway, Chiang Kai-shek would quickly hide the telegram he was going to send in a drawer, not wanting to be known to others.
In December 1936, in order to save the nation from peril and achieve a unified anti-Japanese situation, Yang Hucheng and Zhang Xueliang detained Chiang Kai-shek, who had come to Shaanxi to supervise the war, and the Xi'an Incident broke out.
Chiang Kai-shek was detained in Xi'an, and He Yingqin and others proposed to send troops to bomb Xi'an, and Song Meiling understood that once bombed, then the life and safety of her husband Chiang Kai-shek would be threatened.
Figure | He Yingqin
Song Meiling mediated with He Yingqin and others, and finally succeeded in preventing their decision to carry out the bombing. Song Meiling made up her mind: risk her life and fly to Xi'an.
This trip to Xi'an must be full of dangers, and Song Meiling almost made the worst assumptions! Before leaving, Song Meiling instructed her entourage:
"If the soldiers are not restrained, you will not hesitate to shoot me."
For her husband Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei Ling fought with her life!
On December 24, Chiang Kai-shek signed an agreement accepting the idea of stopping the civil war and uniting against Japan, and the next day, Chiang Kai-shek was released and the incident was resolved peacefully. Accompanied by Zhang Xueliang, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling returned to Nanjing.
The peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident forced Chiang Kai-shek to stop the policy of "keeping the inside out of peace" and, with the efforts of the Communists, finally led to the establishment of the anti-Japanese national united front.
Picture | Zhang Xueliang
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Soong Mei-ling always accompanied her husband Chiang Kai-shek and devoted herself wholeheartedly to the cause of the War of Resistance.
After the end of the War of Resistance, the Kuomintang government led by Chiang Kai-shek was defeated and retreated in the War of Liberation and eventually withdrew in defeat. Chiang Kai-shek, who was in his sixties, would eventually pay the price for his disregard for peace, and the only thing that would accompany him for the rest of his life was his wife, Soong Mei-ling.
In April 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died of illness, and the 48-year marriage life of Soong Mei-ling and Chiang Kai-shek ended.
In these years, Soong Meiling accompanied her husband Chiang Kai-shek through many times, either triumphantly or frustrated.
In 2003, the 105-year-old Song Meiling passed away, and before she died, she said with tears in her eyes:
"I'm sorry for three men in my life"
And one of these three was Chiang Kai-shek.
Pictured| Chiang Kai-shek
Song Meiling in her later years
Why did Soong Mei Ling feel sorry for Chiang Kai-shek? From the second half of the couple's marriage, Soong Mei-ling has never had children belonging to her and Chiang Kai-shek.
According to investigations, Chiang Kai-shek had two children, the eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo, who was the child of him and his first wife, Mao Fumei. In January 1988, Chiang Ching-kuo died of illness.
The other child was Jiang Weiguo, who at the age of 20 was arranged by his father Chiang Kai-shek to study at the German Officers' School and then to the United States for air force and armored corps training.
Picture | Jiang Weiguo
In 1940, when the then 24-year-old Jiang Weiguo had completed his studies and returned to China, just when Song Meiling was unwell and sick, Jiang Weiguo went to visit her, which was also the first time Song Meiling and Jiang Weiguo met.
At that time, Soong Mei Ling was in Hong Kong, and Chiang Kai-shek sent his eldest son Chiang Ching-kuo to Hong Kong to introduce the two of them to each other, and the brothers had not seen each other for a long time.
Under the introduction of the accompanying relatives, the brothers warmly embraced each other, and then went to visit Song Meiling together, Song Meiling was also very good to these two children, as the elder of Jiang Weiguo, she was kindly concerned about his study experience abroad, and the two talked happily.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was not by their side, and when he heard the scene of Soong Ching-ling meeting with Chiang Ching-kuo and Chiang Wei-kuo, he was very happy and wrote in his diary that day:
"The joy is immeasurable, and I feel the thickness of God's grace."
After Chiang Kai-shek's death in 1947, Soong Mei Ling finished his life and went to the United States to live.
In her later years, Song Meiling did not have the company of her husband Chiang Kai-shek and did not have her own children, and the children of the younger generation such as Chiang Ching-kuo, Jiang Weiguo, kong Lingwei and so on also went before her, which made Song Meiling's later life add a little sadness.
Even though she is old, Song Meiling still insists on reading, reading newspapers, practicing calligraphy, painting, sports, etc. on weekdays, enriching her daily life and allowing herself to get the comfort of her soul.
Song Meiling has a younger brother Song Zi'an, Song Zi'an's son Song Zhonghu often visits her, because of her age, Song Meiling sometimes has symptoms of not recognizing people, so in the face of Song Zhonghu, Song Meiling will sometimes treat him as another deceased person and talk to him endlessly.
When Song Meiling was 99 years old, Song Zhonghu came to visit him as in previous years, this time Song Zhonghu lived in his aunt Song Meiling's apartment for a week, and almost every day, Song Zhonghu could hear Song Meiling repeating a sentence:
"My sisters are gone, my brothers are gone, and I really don't know why God left me behind..."
Occasionally, she would mention her sister Song Qingling and keep chanting: "If my sister Qingling is still alive, if my sister Qingling is still alive..."
This scene made Song Zhonghu, as a junior, look a little distressed.
When she was more than 90 years old, Song Meiling's body gradually weakened, several times accidentally fell, had to sit in a wheelchair for several months, in order to restore the function of the legs as soon as possible, Song Meiling dragged the elderly body, insisted on daily sports therapy, endured the pain that many people could not endure, and finally Song Meiling successfully stood up.
Pictured| Song Meiling in his later years
In October 2003, Song Meiling passed away, this year Song Meiling was 105 years old, and Kong Lingyi and his wife had been with her until her death.
Kong Lingyi, the eldest daughter of Song Xialing and Kong Xiangxi, has a good relationship with her aunt Song Meiling, who is very filial to Song Meiling, just like her own mother, so that it has become a place where he will be talked about in the future.
In the more than ten years of Song Meiling's later life, Kong Lingyi always took care of her life and often accompanied her, it can be said that Kong Lingyi was the closest relative of Song Meiling in her later years.
After Song Meiling's death, the only thing left for posterity is a wordless tombstone, as if leaving countless puzzles for future generations, and too many stories in Song Meiling's life are waiting for everyone to discover...