On April 25, 1971, Song Ziwen died of suffocation while eating in his apartment in San Francisco at the age of 77. When it comes to Song Ziwen, many people may not be familiar with it, but his family can be described as calling the wind and rain during the Republic of China period.
Song Ziwen's sisters are the famous "Three Sisters of the Song Family" (Song Xialing, Song Qingling, and Song Meiling), and their family is also the famous "Four Great Families" of the Republic of China period, which has played an important role in China's modern political arena.
Nixon
Therefore, for the then US President Richard Nixon, Song Ziwen was not only a simple death, but also an influential political event. Nixon, who was on vacation, immediately ended his vacation and returned to the White House after receiving the news of Song Ziwen's death.
Nixon held a press conference, claiming to personally give Song Ziwen a funeral and invite his three sisters to attend. As soon as the news came out, it aroused the attention of the American media, and they all wondered why Nixon personally gave Song Ziwen a funeral.
In fact, Nixon wanted to take the opportunity to win over Soong Ching-ling, who was in the Chinese mainland, soong Ching-ling was the vice president of the People's Republic of China at the time, and China and the United States had obtained exchanges through "ping-pong diplomacy", Nixon wanted to respond to China through funerals and promote the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Song Ziwen
However, unexpectedly, at Song Ziwen's funeral, only some of Song Ziwen's relatives and friends in the United States were attended, and none of his three sisters attended at all. The three sisters of the Song family lost their last chance to reunite! This made Nixon shout, "I really don't understand your Chinese!" ”
So why didn't the three sisters of the Song family attend Song Ziwen's funeral? Could it be that the relationship between the three sisters is very stiff? What are the deeper reasons behind this?
Song Qingling and Song Ziwen: Differences in Ideals and Beliefs
The first thing we want to talk about is Song Ziwen's second sister, Song Qingling. The reason why we started with Song Qingling is because the relationship between Song Qingling and Song Ziwen is the best, and the only contradiction in the lives of the two of them is also a contradiction in ideals and beliefs.
Song Qingling
Song Qingling is a person who cherishes the people and puts the country first, and the consistent concept she adheres to is that "the Song family exists for China". It is precisely because of this belief that Soong Ching Ling married Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who also valued the people of the country, as he wished, and the two people fought unremittingly for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
However, Song Ziwen's philosophy is very different from his sister's, and he has always believed that "China exists for the Song family". This ideological difference became more and more obvious in the future, and he and his sister Song Qingling eventually took different paths.
The sisters and brothers began to become intimate, and Soong Ching Ling strongly recommended his younger brother Song Ziwen to her husband Sun Yat-sen. It is precisely because of this that Song Ziwen was given the opportunity to become Sun Yat-sen's secretary.
Song Ziwen, who worked next to Sun Yat-sen, showed excellent ability, and Song Ziwen received a doctorate in economics from Columbia University, so he was very good at financial and economic work.
Sun Yat-sen, Soong Ching-ling
At that time, the Nationalist government in Guangzhou urgently needed to stabilize the economic situation and promote the smooth progress of the Northern Expedition, and finally Sun Yat-sen selected Song Ziwen as the director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance.
Song Ziwen was grateful for the kindness of his sister and brother-in-law to him, so after sun Yat-sen's death, Song Ziwen was sad, and he also accompanied his sister to take care of Song Qingling. The deep affection between sister and brother can be seen! But the contradictions between the two men also surfaced soon after.
In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek formed the Nanjing National Government in Nanjing, and formed a confrontation with the Wuhan National Government, and Soong Qingling and Soong Ziwen had been working in the Wuhan National Government, so they had differences with Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek had wooed Soong Ching-ling many times, but Soong Ching-ling scoffed at this and never changed his position; Soong Ziwen, like his sister, stood next to Soong Ching-ling at first.
The Three Sisters of the Soong Family and Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek saw that the soft did not work, and he sent a large number of spies to monitor the two men's every move and constantly sabotage around them. Over time, Song Ziwen, who was overwhelmed by the trouble, chose to compromise and threw himself into Chiang Kai-shek's camp, leaving Only Song Qingling to fight alone.
The separation of the sister and brother did not return until 1938, after the second Kuomintang-Communist cooperation. During this period, Song Ziwen also had many correspondence with Song Qingling, but his political ideas and lines were far apart.
In 1938, due to the continuous aggression of the Japanese, the country reached a moment of danger! Against this backdrop, Soong Ching Ling founded the League for the Defense of China, a relief agency that provided various forms of assistance to anti-war organizations throughout the country.
After Song Qingling thought about it, he decided to let his brother serve as the president of the alliance. Song Ziwen did not live up to his sister's trust and provided the Communist Party with a lot of material help.
Song Ziwen, Song Qingling, Song Meiling
During the Period of Song Ziwen, he also wanted to absorb the Communist Party into the Nationalist Government, and he once told american reporters: "After the end of the War of Resistance, you may find that the Communist Party has become a faction of our Nationalist Government!" ”
But Song Ziwen also had many troubles: he admired that the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army could win the Pingxingguan Campaign with inferior equipment, but this spirit of not being afraid of death was not possessed by the Kuomintang. This made Song Ziwen worried about the future of the Kuomintang.
In addition, Song Ziwen believes that his sister Song Qingling has given too much material assistance to the Eighth Route Army, which will become a hidden danger in the future. His worries grew day by day, and even became a "heart disease."
Finally, after Chiang Kai-shek launched the "Anhui Southern Incident," Soong Tzu-wen found an excuse and quit this organization, and he also whitewashed Chiang Kai-shek: "The New Fourth Army encountered this kind of thing not because they were Communists, but because they did not obey the state arrangements!" ”
Three sisters of the Song family
Song Qingling was greatly disappointed in her brother's choice, but she did not blame her brother more, but only publicly expressed her regret.
After that, the two exchanged letters, and Song Ziwen knew that his sister was not in good health and lacked materials, so he specially bought many things from the United States and sent them to his sister.
This exchange continued until 1945. After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, with the outbreak of the Civil War, both brothers and sisters were disappointed in the Kuomintang! Song Ziwen did not want a civil war, he wanted to learn from Britain and the United States and build a multi-party state.
The difference in road beliefs led Song Ziwen to decide to leave the United States, and Song Qingling continued to stay on the mainland, and the two completely broke off contact until Song Ziwen's death in 1971.
After Song Ziwen's death, Nixon considered this close sister-brother relationship, and Song Qingling was thousands of miles away, so he first passed on this bad news to Song Qingling, and hoped that Song Qingling could come to the United States to attend the funeral.
Since Sino-US relations have not yet broken the ice, this letter has gone through several turns before it reaches the hands of Soong Ching Ling. After hearing the news, Song Qingling agreed to Nixon's request and began to find a way to go to the United States.
At that time, going to the United States was not an easy task, and the people of the two countries could not communicate directly. So if you want to go to the United States, you have to go through other countries and then change the plane.
Another difficulty is transportation, and there were not many mainland airports in the seventies, let alone airplanes. At that time, if the leaders of the country wanted to visit abroad, they had to make an appointment for a plane in advance in order to successfully complete the trip.
Song Ziwen and his wife
Because of the sudden death of Song Ziwen and the delay in delivering the letter for some time, after Song Qingling learned the news, it was not a few days before the funeral, and the country could not free up an idle plane to go to the United States for a short time.
In desperation, Song Qingling had to give up. Originally, Nixon was very happy, and if Soong Ching Ling visited the United States, it would be a major event in The history of China and the United States. However, Song Qingling was unable to make the trip due to tool reasons, which made Nixon feel regretful!
Also regretted is Song Qingling, who has never seen her relatives at home since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and she has not seen her beloved brother for many years. Originally wanted to take this opportunity to get together, but helplessly backward conditions, this plan had to fail!
Since Song Qingling, who had the best relationship with Song Ziwen, did not have the opportunity to attend the funeral, what were the reasons why the eldest sister Song Xialing and the younger sister Song Meiling did not attend the funeral?
The gap between Song Yiling and Song Ziwen
Song Xiaoling is the eldest sister of Song Ziwen and the eldest daughter of the Song family. Because Song Xialing has excellent ability, she has a broken heart for this family. Because of this, Song Xialing slowly monopolized the power of the family, thus clashing with the eldest son Song Ziwen.
Song Xialing
Song Xialing is dictatorial and often does not consider the feelings of her younger siblings. When Song Ziwen was young, there was nothing wrong with her doing so. However, when Song Ziwen became an adult, he gradually became unaccustomed to his sister's arrogance!
The contradiction between the two people also gradually has a rift along with the distribution of family interests and power. Song Ziwen believes that he is the eldest son and should inherit the family business. In the middle of the two, there is a crucial third person, and it is he who causes the further deterioration of the relationship between the sister and brother. This person is Song Xialing's husband: Kong Xiangxi!
Kong Xiangxi was a descendant of Confucius and was born into a family of Confucian and shang. At that time, after Song Xialing married Kong Xiangxi, Song Ziwen looked down on this brother-in-law.
Kong Xiangxi
This is mainly due to Kong Xiangxi's style of doing things, Kong Xiangxi is a well-known old good man and centrist in the Kuomintang, he upholds the concept of "moderation", and no one in the party can be offended, as long as he does not violate the interests of the Kong family and the Chiang family. Many people gave him a nickname, called "Haha Kong".
For this kind of behavior, Song Ziwen was disgusted. At first, the two men working together maintained a semblance of peace; but since 1933, their relationship has become tense.
In 1933, Song Ziwen, who had always been arrogant and arrogant, decided to resign as minister of finance because he was dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's economic policies; Chiang Kai-shek was afraid that Soong Ziwen hated him, so he transferred the ministerial position to Kong Xiangxi.
Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi
Song Ziwen originally meant to force Chiang Kai-shek to lower his stature and listen to his own opinions, but he did not expect that Chiang Kai-shek would directly transfer the contradiction and transfer the position to his brother-in-law; and after Kong Xiangxi got this position, he immediately expelled all of Song Ziwen's cronies and replaced them with his own people.
Song Ziwen was furious, and he didn't expect to be self-defeating and set himself up! The Ministry of Finance has always been a fat man, holding the economic lifeblood of the National Government! Song Ziwen had expected him to keep his cronies and coerce Chiang Kai-shek by controlling the economy, but now this plan had completely failed!
Kong Xiangxi, Song Xialing
At this time, Song Xialing was already the daughter-in-law of the Kong family, so she helped Kong Xiangxi everywhere and asked her brother not to go too far. The two brothers and sisters, who originally had contradictions, were completely deadlocked.
Soon after, Kong Xiangxi was dismissed by Chiang Kai-shek for poor economic governance, and Song Ziwen returned to the throne. But at that time, it was already the period of the Liberation War, and the Kuomintang was already weakening!
In 1947, Kong Xiangxi saw that the momentum was not good, and fled to the United States like Song Ziwen. In the face of the visit of his old friend, Kong Xiangxi kept mocking Song Ziwen and said: "They all say that I lost the country, but I was the minister of finance for many years during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, leaving Song Ziwen with 900 million US dollars and 60 million taels of gold, and now all of them have been defeated by Song Ziwen!" ”
Song Xialing, who has always loved face, is now asked by the US side to attend the funeral, and she can't help but think of this incident in that year, and when she thinks of the death of her husband, her brother doesn't even come to see it, and she can't help but feel angry!
But Song Xialing is still a little entangled, after all, the brothers are like brothers and sisters, the two brothers and sisters have not seen each other for many years, and now they are not going to attend a funeral, which is really not good.
Just when Song Xialing was entangled, Song Xialing's daughter Kong Lingwei returned home. Kong Lingwei had been in Taiwan before, and she came to the United States with Song Meiling. But now Song Meiling is back in Taiwan, and she asked Kong Lingwei to bring a message to Song Xialing: "Resolutely do not go to Song Ziwen's funeral." ”
Song Meiling
So why didn't Song Meiling go to Song Ziwen's funeral? Why didn't she let Song Xiaoling participate?
Soong Mei Ling and Soong Zi Wen: Dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek
Song Meiling was born in 1897, three years younger than Song Ziwen. Song Ziwen actually liked this sister very much, but when Song Meiling grew up, Song Ziwen went to study abroad, so he had a lot less time to spend together.
The root cause of the contradiction between Soong Mei-ling and Soong Ziwen comes from chiang kai-shek, and the relationship between the two has also changed from time to time because of Chiang Kai-shek.
Song Ziwen and Chiang Kai-shek began to clash from the time of the National Revolution. In 1926, the Great Revolution was in full swing, and the Northern Expeditionary Army was advancing like a bamboo, with the potential to unify the whole country in one fell swoop.
In this form, Song Ziwen was invited north to Wuhan to preside over economic affairs, and when he drove to Nanchang, he found a strange phenomenon: although the warlords had been driven away in Nanchang, there was not a single ordinary person on the street doing business.
Song Ziwen felt strange, so he asked the local officials in Nanchang, and this question frightened Song Ziwen! It turned out that chiang kai-shek, in order to expand military spending, printed 40 million yuan of currency in Nanchang, causing serious local inflation and making the people's lives miserable.
Song Ziwen was furious and scolded Chiang Kai-shek for not understanding the economy, and at a subsequent meeting, Song Ziwen publicly stated on this matter: "The most urgent task at the moment is no longer to go north, but to rectify the economy!" ”
Chiang Kai-shek was ambitious and wanted to "devote all his efforts to one battle" and unify the whole country, so he and Soong Ziwen quarreled at the meeting, making a tit-for-tat confrontation, and finally failed.
Although the quarrels in the venue were fierce, this did not affect Chiang Kai-shek's pursuit of Soong Mei Ling in the slightest! Chiang Kai-shek sent generous gifts to the Song family and vowed to marry Soong Meiling.
The Song family held a special meeting on this, and the brothers and sisters sat together to discuss Song Meiling's marriage. Soong Ziwen and Soong Ching-ling resolutely opposed Chiang Kai-shek, believing that this man was fierce and cunning; Ni Guizhen, the old lady of Soong, was also resolutely opposed to Chiang Kai-shek; and only Soong Andong and Soong Mei-ling supported Chiang Kai-shek.
Song Xiaoling has always been dictatorial in her work at home, and at her insistence, Song Meiling married Chiang Kai-shek on December 1, 1927.
Soong Mei Ling, Chiang Kai-shek
After marriage, Soong Mei Ling completely became a mediator between Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Ziwen. Song Ziwen ridiculed Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek ridiculed Song Ziwen for being sour and smelly. But in the end, because of the existence of Song Meiling, the two did not break up.
The relationship between the two did not improve in the slightest, and even once, Chiang Kai-shek took a teacup and smashed it at Song Ziwen, if it were not for Song Meiling's timely obstruction, the two would have to wrestle together.
Over time, Song Meiling did not bother to take care of his brother, and Song Ziwen was also disappointed by Chiang Kai-shek's political methods and fled the United States.
In 1952, Chiang Kai-shek, who had been defeated in Taiwan, went so far as to take Song Ziwen and expel him from the party in order to show his determination to pay his salary and taste courage; soon after, Chiang Kai-shek investigated and punished Wu Guozhen and Sun Liren, the red people around Song Ziwen, for embezzlement and put them under house arrest.
Chiang Kai-shek's series of operations made Song Ziwen panic, and from then on, he and Chiang Kai-shek could be said to have no contact with each other. Although Chiang Kai-shek had invited Soong Ziwen to Taiwan, Soong Hades refused. It was not until the death of Song Ziwen in 1971 that the two families were connected again.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek had reached his old age, and at this time he was haggard. After Nixon came to power, he always ignored his love. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek sent Chiang Ching-kuo to visit the United States in person, but the US side did not receive a warm reception, but Chiang Ching-kuo was assassinated by unknown people!
Chiang Kai-shek has since become uneasy; more importantly, Chinese mainland "ping-pong diplomacy" has shown signs of relaxation between China and the United States, and it is no longer easy for Chiang Kai-shek to regain the trust of the United States.
However, at the end of April of that year, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly received a notice from the US side, which invited Soong Mei-ling to attend Soong Ziwen's funeral, and Nixon personally presided over it.
After hearing the news, Chiang Kai-shek danced with excitement, thinking that the United States was trying to win itself over again and regain importance to Taiwan's status! So he immediately sent Song Meiling to the United States in a private jet.
Song Meiling knew that this was her brother's funeral, and it was a diplomatic mission, so she made meticulous preparations and took Kong Lingwei, the daughter of Song Xialing, to the United States to meet her sister. As a result, in the middle of the road, there was a change!
Song Meiling's plane temporarily stopped in the Hawaiian Islands, and before Song Meiling could enjoy the local scenery, she was called back to Taiwan by a phone call.
After the phone call, the astute Song Meiling realized that something was wrong, so she asked Kong Lingwei to buy all the local newspapers in Hawaii that day to see the news for herself.
Don't look at it, don't know, look at it and be shocked. It turned out that his second sister, Song Qingling, vice president of the People's Republic of China, also wanted to attend his brother's funeral, and since the defeat of the Kuomintang, this was the first time he wanted to meet his second sister!
Soong Mei-ling was very excited in her heart, but Chiang Kai-shek called again at this moment, and Chiang Kai-shek said on the phone: "Soong Ching-ling is also going to participate, so you should come back soon!" This is the Communist Party's united front plan! It's all a conspiracy behind this! ”
Under the pressure of Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling had to pack up and return to China, and Chiang Kai-shek also said at the end of the phone: "You let Kong Lingwei tell Song Lingling, and you are not allowed to attend the funeral!" In this way, Song Meiling asked Kong Lingwei to find his mother and took a special plane back to Taiwan overnight.
Nixon's intelligence officers sensed that something was wrong and quickly reported the situation to Nixon, who felt that it would be embarrassing if no one came to the funeral!
Song Ziwen, Song Meiling
Nixon thought: Could it be that Song Xialing and Song Meiling don't want to see Song Qingling? So Nixon sent a message to Song Meiling that Song Qingling could not attend the funeral because of inconvenient transportation.
After hearing the news, Soong Mei Ling wanted to return to the United States to attend the funeral, but Chiang Kai-shek called again: "Don't go!" No funerals allowed! ”
Song Meiling had to return to Taiwan with infinite regrets, leaving only a sigh! On May 1, 1971, Song Ziwen's funeral was held in a church in New York, and most of the people present were news media, with only a few friends and relatives attending, which was particularly deserted.
Afterwards, Nixon said about the matter: "I wanted to take this opportunity to improve my relationship with Chinese mainland, but I didn't expect to be able to do so!" I really don't understand your Chinese!" ”
Fortunately, not long after, Kissinger secretly visited China; the following year, Nixon personally visited Beijing, and Sino-US relations finally got on the right track. The funeral of Song Ziwen became a small episode during this period and became the talk of posterity.
The death of Song Ziwen may be a sad thing for the three sisters of the Song family! However, due to various reasons, they were unable to make the trip, and they missed the last opportunity to reunite, which became the eternal regret of the three sisters! I have to say that this incident is a tragedy that was forced to die because of politics!