In that turbulent era, Jiang Weiguo's birth was not simple. According to legend, he was born to Dai Jitao and the Japanese nurse Shigematsu Kaneko, not Chiang Kai-shek's own flesh and blood. However, this claim has not been confirmed by conclusive evidence.
It wasn't until Chiang Kai-shek's death that his chef revealed the truth that the mystery seemed to have taken a turn for the better, whether Chiang Weiguo was Chiang Kai-shek's own son?
One day in March 1941, Jiang Weiguo walked into Soong Meiling's study, which was filled with all kinds of books and cultural relics, and the sunlight poured through the large windows on the neat bookshelves.
He inadvertently pulled out a book called "Asia Insider", which had a dark brown cover with slightly frayed corners and had apparently been flipped through multiple times. Jiang Weiguo sat at the table by the window and began to browse the book.
The book focuses on the complex dynamics of Asian politics, but while reading, Jiang Weiguo stumbles upon a passage about himself in one of the book's chapters.
In this passage, author John Guenther details a widely discussed but little-known secret – the birth and life of Jiang Weiguo.
According to Gense's description, Chiang Weiguo was not Chiang Kai-shek's biological son, but the child that Chiang Kai-shek took from Dai Jitao for some political considerations.
The book even mentions in detail that Jiang Weiguo's biological mother is a Japanese woman who had an emotional entanglement with Dai Jitao.
Dai Jitao, afraid to admit the outcome of the relationship, and fearing the opposition of his family, finally entrusted Chiang Weiguo to Chiang Kai-shek, who was raised by Chiang Kai-shek and his concubine Yao Yicheng.
In this paragraph, Guenther cites a number of unnamed internal sources claiming that the information has been verified by his own parties.
Jiang Weiguo stood up, gently put the book back on the shelf, and walked to the window, where he saw the carefully manicured flowers and plants in the courtyard and the outline of the city in the distance.
In the days that followed, Jiang tried to communicate with some of the elders in the family, asking about Dai Jitao and Shigematsu Kaneko, trying to get more information from their reactions. He noticed that whenever these names were mentioned, the expressions of some of the elders would become complicated and their words would appear extremely cautious, and although his heart was full of doubts, as the recognized son of Chiang Kai-shek, he knew that he could not easily express such confusion and trouble.
Since learning the mystery of his life experience, Jiang Weiguo has always taken this matter to heart, he once met Junjiro Yamada on a trip to Japan, that he knows something about his life experience, but even if the other party describes it again, he still can't believe it,
After returning to Taiwan, Chiang Weiguo no longer insisted on investigating the secret of his life experience, but this matter has been hanging in his heart like a shadow for a long time, and the mystery has not been solved until after Chiang Kai-shek's death.
In 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died of illness, and some things that would have been kept strictly secret only during Chiang Kai-shek's lifetime began to show signs of loosening, including the secret of Chiang Weiguo's true life.
Shortly after Chiang Kai-shek's death, Chiang Weiguo had an in-depth conversation with Chiang Kai-shek's personal chef for many years, Chiang Kai-shek.
Jiang Xiaopin is a middle-aged man, his skin is slightly rough from long-term cooking, and his face has a bit of seriousness and the vicissitudes of wind and frost.
He was born in Jiangxi, and Chiang Kai-shek was from the same Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and the two had a special relationship geographically.
Chiang Xiaopin began to follow Chiang Kai-shek when he was young, and his cooking skills were greatly appreciated by Chiang Kai-shek, who often prepared a variety of home-cooked dishes with the flavor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he occupied an irreplaceable position in Chiang Kai-shek's home.
In Chiang Kai-shek's private residence, Chiang Xiaopin was responsible for managing all affairs in the kitchen. He is more than just a chef, more often than not, taking on the role of a family member.
As a result of his long contact and intimate knowledge of Chiang Kai-shek, he knew a lot about the secrets of many of his families. One of the most important secrets is the truth about Jiang Weiguo's birth and identity.
On this day, Jiang Weiguo found Jiang Xiaopin, hoping to get some definite news about his birth from him.
The two sat down in a cottage in their private home, surrounded by a well-tended garden with distant views of Taipei's mountains. Jiang Xiaopin began to tell about the dusty past.
Chiang Xiaopin clearly remembered the situation when Chiang Kai-shek told him the secret. It was a late spring night, and Chiang Kai-shek was in his study, facing the loyal Chiang Kai-shek, revealing for the first time the origin of Chiang Weiguo.
He said at the time: "You must keep this matter secret, it is related to the honor of the family and the safety of the individual." As a result, even among Chiang Kai-shek's many cronies, few are aware of this background.
According to Chiang Xiaopin's recollections, Chiang Kai-shek had given a detailed account of Chiang Weiguo's birth. As a young man, Mr. Dai had a deep relationship with a Japanese woman named Kaneko Shigematsu, a Japanese nurse working in China.
The relationship between the two ended without a problem for various reasons, but from this emotional entanglement, Jiang Weiguo came into being. Due to the complicated family situation of Dai Jitao, especially his wife, who is extremely sensitive to it, Dai Jitao cannot publicly acknowledge the child.
When Dai Jitao was faced with the dilemma of not being able to recognize his parents, Chiang Kai-shek, as his friend and political ally, decided to step in to help solve the problem.
After discussions with several other close friends, Chiang Kai-shek decided to take Chiang Weiguo into his home and be raised by his concubine Yao Yicheng. Yao Yicheng was already a member of the Chiang family at that time, and she always supported Chiang Kai-shek's decisions unconditionally.
Chiang sketches describe in detail how Chiang Kai-shek arranged all this back then. He recalled that in the days when Jiang Weiguo was first brought to Chiang's house, the entire family was in a state of high secrecy and tension.
Chiang Kai-shek specifically instructed Chiang Xiaopin and several other trusted servants in the family to take special care of Chiang Weiguo and ensure that his identity was not known to outsiders.
After that, Chiang Weiguo grew up in Chiang's house, and most of the people around him, except for a very few people in the know, believed that he was Chiang Kai-shek's biological son.
As the chef of the Jiang family, Jiang Xiaopin can often see Chiang Kai-shek's seriousness and determination in handling family and political affairs, but he always treats Jiang Weiguo with a special kind of care.
After a conversation with Jiang Xiaopin, Jiang Weiguo gets conclusive information about his true identity, and Jiang Weiguo begins to look for a link between himself and his biological parents.
After the easing of cross-strait relations, he decided to go to Japan to find the final resting place of his mother, Shigematsu Kaneko.
Shigematsu Kaneko is buried in a secluded rural cemetery in Japan, away from the hustle and bustle, surrounded by lush trees and neat flowers.
Jiang Weiguo, under the guidance of the administrator of the cemetery, found his mother's tombstone. The tombstone is simple and unpretentious, with the name and biography of Komatsu Gold engraved on it.
Jiang Weiguo stood quietly in front of the tomb for a long time, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand, and finally gently placed the bouquet in front of the tombstone, expressing his nostalgia and respect for his mother.
After his trip to Japan, Chiang returned to Taiwan and began another, more difficult task - to find the remains of his biological father, Dai Jitao.
Due to the long time since Dai Jitao's death and the fact that he was mostly active in the mainland during his lifetime, this task is full of uncertainties and challenges. Through various channels and contacts, Jiang Weiguo entrusted a number of credible assistants to conduct a search on the mainland.
After several years of hard work, in 1989, Jiang Weiguo finally found Dai Jitao's remains in an old cemetery on the mainland.
The cemetery is located on the outskirts of Dai Jitao's hometown, and although the cemetery has fallen into disrepair, Dai Jitao's name can still be recognized on the tombstone.
After consultation with the local government and the cultural relics management department, Jiang Weiguo was allowed to remove Dai Jitao's remains and cremate them according to his wishes.
The cremation ceremony took place at a local funeral parlor with traditional characteristics, and Jiang Weiguo was personally present to witness the process.
After the cremation, Jiang Weiguo put Dai Jitao's ashes into a refined urn and subsequently brought them back to Taiwan.
He held a small commemorative ceremony for Dai Jitao in Taiwan, inviting several relatives and friends to pay his respects.
Over the next four years, Jiang Weiguo conducted several rounds of negotiations and consultations with the mainland, hoping to find a suitable burial place for Dai Jitao to fulfill his last wishes.
In the end, the two sides reached an agreement and decided to bury Dai Jitao's ashes in the stele forest of Zhaojue Temple in Chengdu. Zhaojue Temple is a historical Buddhist shrine, and its stele forest houses many famous tombstones and monuments.
In January 1989, on the occasion of the first anniversary of Chiang Ching-kuo's death, Taiwan's political atmosphere and social mood were in a special state.
In this context, Jiang Weiguo chose this point in time to disclose the truth of his life experience to the public. The announcement took place on a solemn and solemn occasion in Taipei, and was attended by journalists, politicians, and other members of the Chiang family.
Jiang Weiguo stood on the podium, facing the numerous flashes and cameras, his voice firm and clear. He first reviewed Chiang Ching-kuo's contributions and wishes, and then turned to his own personal topic.
He publicly stated that his biological father was Dai Jitao, a figure who had made a difference in the political arena, and that his biological mother was Kaneko Shigemomatsu, a Japanese nurse who had worked in China.
Jiang Weiguo's announcement immediately aroused widespread media attention. Journalists quickly spread the news, and interest in the family history in Taiwan and the international community was at an all-time high.
Some expressed understanding and sympathy, believing that Jiang Weiguo, who had endured tremendous psychological pressure for so many years, could now finally release these secrets and find a peace of mind. Others, on the other hand, expressed shock at Chiang's true identity, which challenged their perception of the Chiang family and Taiwan's political history.
Pei Xianzhang.On the life experience of Mr. Jiang Weiguo[J].Journal of Literature and History,1989(5):17-17