Song Meiling spanned three centuries and went through 106 spring and autumn seasons, and finally passed away in New York in October 2003, ending the legend of her life.
She was buried in Finkcliff Cemetery in New York, accompanied by Song Ziwen, Song Ziliang, Song Ailing and other relatives.
In August of this year, Song Meiling, who was in poor health, went to the cemetery to check her cemetery.
Thinking that his relatives are sleeping here, and he will soon be buried with them, he can't help but feel sad, and cry directly in front of the tomb of his brother Song Ziwen......
1. Song Ziwen went to the United States to avoid the limelight
"Half a point of responsibility, not a word of truth...... If you don't want to do a thousand years, you won't be wronged by the people", this was a limerick poem that satirized the corruption of the national government that was popular at that time.
The Kuomintang government acted recklessly, failed to properly make up for the huge fiscal deficit, and continued to wage unjust wars, triggering huge military expenditures and causing domestic inflation.
However, the bureaucratic class headed by the four major families of Jiang, Kong, Song, and Chen also exploited the toiling people by cunning and exploiting the toiling people, and the people were miserable.
In the end, the Kuomintang was forced by the situation and retreated to Taiwan.
On January 1, 1950, Chiang Kai-shek celebrated his first New Year in Taiwan, on which he wanted to "thoroughly reform and start over, and take the practice of revival as his own goal." ”
The next day, he convened a meeting and proposed a "call for three movements" for the year, the first of which was "a campaign for the radical transformation of the Party."
In addition, he also proposed to "convene three conferences", the first of which is to "convene meetings of party members at all levels to thoroughly review and reflect on them, and resolutely carry out the party's transformation." ”
At that time, the Kuomintang began to denounce the culprit that caused the collapse of the regime, and the Kong Song family became the target of public criticism.
In this hostile atmosphere, Song Ziwen reduced the number of "appearances" in Taiwan.
Previously, Song Ziwen had been holding important positions in the Kuomintang and the Nationalist Government, not only a famous politician, financial planner, and financier, but also an outstanding diplomat during the Anti-Japanese War.
Beginning with the September 18 Incident in 1931, Song Ziwen, who was already vice president of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Finance of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, officially set foot in the field of diplomacy, focusing on U.S. aid diplomacy. The results achieved are good, but he will take advantage of his position to seek personal gains, and embezzle funds for aid to China with his younger brother, making a lot of "national hardship".
Soong Tzu-wen also sold off a large amount of gold and foreign exchange stored in the state treasury, but Marshall's promise of economic assistance failed, and the economy of the Kuomintang completely collapsed, which Chiang Kai-shek regarded as an important reason for the defeat of the Kuomintang on the mainland.
Therefore, for a long time after that, Chiang Kai-shek has always had a grudge against Song Ziwen, who committed the great crime of "misleading the country".
As early as June 1949, Soong Ziwen had already left Guangzhou to settle in the United States, and it was not until Chiang Kai-shek re-ascended to the "presidential" position and invited him to Taiwan to "help each other in times of hardship" that Soong Ziwen visited Taiwan for a few days.
Song Ziwen once told Chiang Kai-shek in person that he had no intention of pursuing a career in public office, and resolutely no longer intervened in the affairs of the Kuomintang, but only wanted to enjoy his old age in the United States and tease his grandson.
In order to appease some people's anti-Confucian and Song sentiments, Chiang Kai-shek deliberately "killed his relatives in righteousness".
He struggled for a long time on the issue of dealing with Song Ziwen's party membership, and because of Song Meiling's feelings, he finally came up with a compromise method, that is, he demanded that "all those who have no illegal words and deeds and are suspected of being bandits will be allowed to issue a new party card, but those who have not returned to the team to register will have their party membership revoked." ”
In this way, Soong Ziwen, who was in the United States at the time, was expelled from the party, and the responsibility lay with him who did not return to Taiwan, not Chiang Kai-shek himself.
Since he has no intention of pursuing a career in office, what about being expelled from the party, perhaps for Song Ziwen, it is a good thing to have less fetters, and the personal relationship between the two has not been affected by this.
However, the successive occurrence of the "Wu Guozhen Incident" and the "Sun Liren Incident" led to the estrangement of Soong Ziwen and Chiang Kai-shek.
In March 1954, the Kuomintang authorities dismissed Wu from all posts and expelled him from the party on charges of "betraying the state and slandering the government."
On October 31, 1955, the Kuomintang authorities falsely accused Sun Liren of "attempting mutiny", removed him from all positions, and placed him under house arrest in Taichung, Taiwan.
Wu Guozhen was originally a talent that Song Ziwen and Song Meiling particularly valued, while Sun Liren was the tax police corps when Song Ziwen was the Minister of Finance.
The fall of these two people made Song Ziwen and Song Meiling realize that Chiang Ching-kuo might be creating a succession layout, and wanted to prevent the "restoration" of the Kong and Song families in Taiwan through the Wusun incident.
As a result, Soong Tzu-wen was reluctant to have close contacts with the Taiwan side.
Even if he had nepotism, when he went to Hong Kong to spend Christmas with his relatives, he was reluctant to set foot on Taiwanese soil, which is close to Hong Kong.
After living in New York for more than 20 years, Song Ziwen no longer cares about political affairs, he likes to watch American news and study the stock market, and every day he goes for a walk in Central Park, tastes delicious snacks, occasionally plays cards, and plays small games with his grandchildren.
By the time of his death in 1971, his total assets amounted to $8 million, according to relevant records.
However, an elder who often played stud with him once revealed that Song Ziwen was very cautious in using money in his later years, which was very different from the image of the media in the past who attacked him for making a lot of "national trouble", spending a lot of money, and spending money.
At the beginning of 1963, Chiang Kai-shek called to invite Soong Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi to Taiwan to celebrate the New Year together, but Soong Ziwen was disrespectful.
During the banquet, Soong Ziwen was always silent, rarely took the initiative to talk, and only gave a brief answer when Chiang Kai-shek asked.
This year was the "last gathering" of the three major families of Jiang Kongsong, because within a few years after that, the former pillars of these three families passed away one after another.
On April 25, 1971, when Song Ziwen was dining at the residence of his friend Yu Jingkai, chairman of the Bank of Guangdong, he accidentally let the food enter his trachea, and finally suffocated and died, and was buried in Finkcliff Cemetery in New York.
Before his death, Song Ziwen longed to return to his roots, and repeatedly discussed with friends the feasibility of returning to Chinese mainland to settle down, but in the end he did not achieve his wish.
Second, under Song Ailing's loneliness, the rapids retreated bravely
The four major families of Jiang, Kong, Song and Chen made a fortune in various ways, such as speculating in public bonds, buying arms, and embezzling from them; banknotes should be made; In Hong Kong, there are people who engage in black market foreign exchange transactions, and some people actually smuggle and sell them when there is a shortage of materials in the rear of the Anti-Japanese War.
Kong Xiangxi is one of the most representative figures.
In 1942, the United States also gave the Nationalist Government a loan of $500 million, and Kong Xiangxi took advantage of his position to take the lead in wanton corruption.
When Chiang Kai-shek learned about it, he was furious and dismissed Kong Xiangxi from various important positions one by one, and scolded him shamelessly in his diary.
Song Ailing saw that her husband was frustrated in officialdom, and that Kongmen's fierce rivals were competing for his vacant position, and she had no power in her hands, so she felt unhappy.
At that time, she was the first woman in modern China to study abroad, met US President Roosevelt, and also served as Sun Yat-sen's first secretary.
In the three "splits" of the Song family, she promoted the marriage of Jiang and Song, helped her husband sit on the throne of finance minister, and became the final winner.
How can such a strong woman be resigned to the status quo?
The lonely and desolate days lasted until the autumn of 1945, when Japan surrendered unconditionally and the whole country rejoiced, and Soong began to think about the situation in China.
She realized that because of the windfall and the number of enemies they had made in the past, and because Chiang Kai-shek had a grudge against them for their past economic inaction and lack of reform and extreme greed for money, they had no place to live in China.
Moreover, the power in the hands of the Chiang family was only superficial, but the inside was full of holes, and Soong Ailing was keenly aware of Chiang Kai-shek's fate on the mainland, and expected that he would be defeated sooner or later.
Song Ailing has a clear understanding of the current situation in China, and she has already planned for the next direction of her life.
As early as 1944, when Song Ziwen showed signs of returning to politics, Song Ailing had already foreseen her husband's political future.
So, she wanted to transfer her property and find a place to settle, and in order to hide her eyes, she went to the island of Brocoyo in the center of Guanabara Bay, Brazil, under the pretext of going abroad with Song Meiling for medical treatment.
Soong Meiling sought medical treatment here, and Soong Ailing approached the Brazilian strongman Getulio Vargas to discuss how to transfer the Kong family's huge fortune in China to invest abroad.
As Kong Xiangxi was gradually marginalized in the political arena, Soong Ailing's decision to speed up the disposal of the Kong family's Wanguan family property became more and more intense.
She secretly sold real estate in many places in China, and invested huge sums of money in real estate, stock securities, air transportation and other fields in Hong Kong, the United States, Brazil and other places.
In the second half of 1946, Soong finally liquidated the Kong family's fortune in Shanghai and purchased a new home on Independence Avenue in Riverdale, USA, as his home in exile.
That's it, she and Kong Xiangxi spent the rest of their lives in Riverdale, USA.
Soong died of cancer on October 19, 1973 and was buried in Finncliff Cemetery in New York.
Ten years later, his brother Song Ziliang was also buried in this cemetery.
3. Song Meiling went to the United States to become a stranger
On April 5, 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died.
Chiang Ching-kuo was in charge, and he treated Soong Meiling as a "mother" and a "good teacher".
With the influence gained from years of operation, Song Meiling has a great say in Chiang Ching-kuo.
From 19 September 1975 to 15 October 1986, there were as many as 763 telegrams exchanged between the two.
Despite this, Soong Meiling's position and influence as the center of political power in Taiwan still have a tendency to decline.
Chiang Ching-kuo was ambitious and bent on standing alone and creating an era of his own in Taiwan.
He also has a strong personality, and what he believes must be done, so he doesn't pay much attention to Song Meiling's opinions.
Due to political disagreement, Song Meiling said to Jiang Jingguo: "Okay, if you insist on your own opinion, then it's all up to you, I don't care, I'm leaving." ”
Song Meiling loves power and politics, and Chiang Kai-shek, who held power back then, can just satisfy her desires, so the two enter the palace of marriage, which is not only to fulfill each other, but also to achieve each other.
However, after Chiang Ching-kuo took over, Soong Meiling's talents could not be displayed in Taiwan's political arena.
Later, Jiang Jingguo, the eldest grandson Jiang Xiaowen, and the very capable grandson Jiang Xiaowu all left Song Meiling, and the withering of her relatives gave her a heavy blow, both emotionally and in terms of interests.
As the representative of the Jiang family's totem, even the birthday scene is not as lively as a year after year, and the decline of the Jiang family dynasty can be imagined.
At that time, Song Meiling was nearly 100 years old, and her physical health was not very good.
It is reported that she was "admitted to Rong Zong for treatment several times". Song Meiling has suffered from skin allergies for a long time, not only to food and climate, but also to anti-allergy drugs.
The doctor decided that the climate in Taiwan was not suitable for her, and suggested going to New York, USA, where the weather was more suitable for her life.
So, Soong Meiling left Taiwan for New York on September 21, 1991.
Song Meiling has said many times before her death that she wants to move back to Shanghai to be buried with her mother, but for various reasons, she may not be able to do so, so she cried in front of the tomb of her brother Song Ziwen: Why are the Song family buried in this foreign country?
She also said to Kong Lingyi, who accompanied her: "If I hadn't been overly enthusiastic about politics when I was young, why would I be buried here?" I also have my own motherland! ”
Tired birds return to the forest at dusk, floating clouds return to the mountains, tired birds have forests to return to, but Song Meiling can't return to her homeland, and she can't return to her roots.
summary
The Song family is so prominent that it is often referred to as the first family in modern China.
The Song family has three sons and three daughters, and under the education of Song Yaoru and Ni Guizhen, they have all become influential figures.
But after the defeat and retreat to Taiwan, the Song family declined, the former scenery was no longer there, far away from the political arena, scattered overseas, and some things were helpless and died in a foreign land.
The Song family seems to be in charge of their own destiny, but in fact, fate is also arranging them in the dark.