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Chinese political figure and third wife of Sun Yat-sen (1893–1981) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981) was a Chinese political figure. She was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, therefore known by Madame Sun Yat-sen and the "mother of modern China."[1] A member of the Soong family, she and her family played a significant role in shaping the Republic of China. As a prominent leader of the left wing of the Kuomintang (KMT), she founded the Revolutionary Committee of the KMT. She entered the Communist government in 1949, and was the only female, non-Communist head of state of the People's Republic of China. She was named Honorary President of the People's Republic of China and admitted to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a few weeks before her death in 1981.
Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling | |
|---|---|
宋庆龄 | |
Soong in the 1940s | |
| Honorary Chairwoman of China | |
| In office 16 May 1981 – 29 May 1981 | |
| Appointed by | the Standing Committee of the 5th National People's Congress on 16 May 1981 |
| Premier | Zhao Ziyang |
| Vice Chairwoman of China | |
| In office 27 April 1959 – 17 January 1975 | |
| President | Liu Shaoqi Vacant (after 1968) |
| Preceded by | Zhu De |
| Succeeded by | Ulanhu (1983) |
| Acting Chairwoman of China | |
| In office 31 October 1968 – 24 February 1972 | |
| Premier | Zhou Enlai |
| Preceded by | Liu Shaoqi (as Chairman) |
| Succeeded by | Dong Biwu (as Acting Chairman) |
| Vice Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |
| In office 17 January 1975 – 29 May 1981 | |
| Chairman | Zhu De Vacant[nb] Ye Jianying |
| In office 27 September 1954 – 28 April 1959 | |
| Chairman | Liu Shaoqi |
| Vice Chairwoman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference | |
| In office 25 December 1954 – 29 April 1959 | |
| Chairman | Zhou Enlai |
| Vice Chairwoman of the Central People's Government | |
| In office 1 October 1949 – 27 September 1954 | |
| Chairman | Mao Zedong |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 January 1893 Shanghai, China |
| Died | 29 May 1981 (aged 88) Beijing, China |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party (1981) |
| Other political affiliations | Kuomintang (1919–1947) Communist International (1930s–1943) Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (1948–1981) |
| Spouse | |
| Parent(s) | Charlie Soong and Ni Kwei-tseng |
| Relatives | Soong Mei-ling (sister) Chiang Kai-shek (brother-in-law) Soong Ai-ling (sister) |
| Alma mater | Wesleyan College |
| Signature |  |
| n.b. ^ Between 1976 and 1978, Soong presided over the meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and performed its powers as head of state in her capacity as the NPCSC First Vice Chairperson. | |
| Soong Ching-ling | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 宋慶齡 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 宋庆龄 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Soong married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China and the KMT, as his third wife in 1915 and became a strong advocate for Sun's KMT-CCP coalition, opposing Chiang Kai-shek's split with the CCP in 1927. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), she joined her sisters in Chongqing to demonstrate national unity and support for the KMT-CCP alliance. However, during the subsequent Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), she shifted her support to the CCP, leading to a break in ties with her family. After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, she held several prominent positions in the Communist government, including Vice Chairman of the PRC (1949–1954; 1959–1975) and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1954–1959; 1975–1981). She traveled abroad during the early 1950s, representing her country at a number of international events.
Following the purge of President Liu Shaoqi in 1968, she and Dong Biwu as Vice Presidents became de facto Heads of State of China until 1972,[2] when Dong was appointed Acting President. During the Cultural Revolution, Soong was protected from being purged, as the top name on A List of Cadres to Be Protected created by Zhou Enlai. Despite this, her Beijing home was invaded by Red Guards, and her parents' tombs in Shanghai were destroyed.[3] Soong survived the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution but appeared less frequently after 1976. As the acting Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1976 to 1978, Soong was again the acting Head of State, as the office of President had been abolished. During her final illness in May 1981, she was given the special title of "Honorary President of the People's Republic of China".
As with the Chinese naming tradition, Soong was the family name, Ching Ling was the first name.[4] Her name was also spelled as Song Qingling in Pinyin.[5] Soong adopted the Christian name "Rosamonde" during her studies at Wesleyan.[1] To her close friends at Wesleyan, she was more often known by Suzie or Suzi.[4] In her early years, her passport name was spelled as Chung-ling Soong, and in her Wesleyan College diploma, her name was Rosamonde Chung-ling Soong.
After marrying Sun Yat-sen in 1925, she became known as Madame Sun Yat-sen.[1] As the wife and widow of the founder of the Chinese Republic, she was honoured as the "mother of modern China,"[1][6][7] by both major political parties in China, KMT and CCP.[8]
Following the Communist Revolution in 1949, she assumed a largely symbolic role in the Communist government. She was awarded the title of "Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China" before her death. The Communist Chinese government praised her as "a great patriotic, democratic, internationalist and Communist fighter and an outstanding state leader of China.”[1] Premier Zhou Enlai and President Jiang Zemin described her as "the treasure of the nation."
Soong was born in Shanghai,[a] China on 27 January 1893, though the exact location of her birth remains debated.[9] Her father, Charlie Soong, was a businessman and missionary originally from Wenchang, Hainan.[11] Influenced by his uncle, who ran a grocery store in the United States, Charlie became enamoured with America when he was young.[12] He was converted into Christianity in Wilmington, North Carolina in November 1880 and returned to China for missionary works in 1886.[13] Her mother, Ni Kwei-tseng, was born in Shanghai to a missionary family originally from Yuyao, Zhejiang, which upheld a Christian tradition dating back to the Ming dynasty. She was educated at a high school run by American missionaries in Shanghai, where she met Charlie Soong.[14] Married in 1890,[13] the couple initially engaged in missionary work and business in Kunshan, later continuing their missionary efforts in Chuansha.[14]
She attended McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai from 1904 to 1907.[15] Charlie Soong was deeply committed to education and insisted that his daughters study in the United States.[12] Charlie, upon the advice from his missionary friend William Burke, who had a connection with Mulberry Street United Methodist Church in Macon, sent his oldest daughter Ai-ling to Wesleyan College in 1904.[13] Ching-ling arrived in the United States in the summer of 1908. She was first tutored by missionary families in Summit, New Jersey and Demorest, Georgia before joining her older sister as a regular college student at Wesleyan in the fall. Mei-ling accompanied Ching-ling, though she was only ten.[13] Ching-ling attended Fairmount College in Monteagle, Tennessee, and graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, United States.[16]
After graduating, Ching-ling's elder sister, Ai-ling, returned to Shanghai in 1908 and became the secretary to Sun Yat-sen.[13] Sun became fascinated with Ai-ling, constantly gazing at her, although Ai-ling did not reciprocate his feelings in the same way.[17] Ching-ling graduated from Wesleyan in 1913, and returned to China via Yokohama, Japan, where she met Sun.[15] Ai-ling resigned in 1914 to marry H. H. Kung, passing the position on to Ching-ling,[13] who admired Sun as the hero who founded the Chinese Republic.[18] In the summer of 1915, Ching-ling returned to Shanghai, asking her parents for their permission to marry Sun, which shocked the family.[19] Ching-ling was confined at home in Shanghai, during which Sun divorced with his wife Lu Mu-zhen.[20]
Despite objections from her father,[13] Ching-ling married Sun Yat-sen on 25 October 1915.[15] There were limited witnesses in their wedding ceremony in Tokyo, which included Wada Mizu, who provided his home for the wedding, Liao Zhong-kai and Liao'“eleven-year-old daughter Cynthia.[20] The Soong family followed Ching-ling to Tokyo, trying to persuade her out of this marriage, with Charlie even coming to the Japanese government to denounce Sun.[21] Sun stated, "Our Principle of Livelihood is a form of communism".[22][23] As Ching-ling could only speak Shanghainess and English, her husband had to talk with her in English rather than Chinese.[24]
After Sun's death in 1925, Ching-ling was elected to the KMT Central Executive Committee. In June 1925, she actively supported the Canton–Hong Kong strike, stating, "Follow the views of Dr. Sun and act according to his actions. If he knew about this, he would be pleased." She attended key meetings of the Kuomintang, including the Third Plenum in 1927.[25]
Ching-ling left China for Moscow after the expulsion of the CCP from the KMT in 1927, accusing the KMT of betraying her husband's legacy.[26] After an initial warm public reception in Moscow for the cadre, to which Soong Ching-ling belonged, from 1928 their attempts to establish a leftist Chinese front were frustrated.
Her younger sister, May-ling, married Chiang Kai-shek, a Methodist like Soong and her sisters.[27] This made Chiang Soong's brother-in-law. The Chinese Communist Party still treats Sun Yat-sen as one of the founders of their movement[28] and claim descent from him[29] as he is viewed as a proto-communist[30][31] and the economic element of Sun's ideology was socialism.[28]
She played a significant role in his funeral arrangements in 1929, escorting his coffin to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.[25] Soong returned to China in June 1929 when Sun Yat-sen was moved from his temporary burial site in Beijing to a new memorial in Nanjing, but left again three months later, and did not return until July 1931, when her mother died. She resided afterwards in Shanghai until July 1937, when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out.
Following Japan’s invasion in 1937, Madam Soong relocated to Hong Kong to coordinate efforts against the aggressors. She published influential articles, such as China Unconquerable, and penned letters appealing for global solidarity. In 1938, she founded the China Defence League in Hong Kong, aiming to garner international support for China’s war effort. The organisation mobilised resources, provided humanitarian aid, and published newsletters to raise awareness globally. The League also established the International Peace Hospital and supported industrial co-operatives like the "Gung Ho" movement, fostering self-sufficiency in wartime China.[25]
Following the outbreak of hostilities, she moved first to Hong Kong (where she befriended future restaurateur and philanthropist Sylvia Cheng[32]), then to Chongqing, the wartime capital of China. In 1939, she founded the China Defense League, which raised funds and sought supplies primarily for the Chinese Communist controlled areas of northern China.
In 1946, the China Defense League was renamed the China Welfare fund, continuing to seek funds and support for the Chinese Communists.[33]
In 1948, she became honorary chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang, a left-wing splinter group of the KMT that claimed to be the legitimate heir of Sun's legacy.[34]
With the collapse of the Nationalist government and the Communist victory in the civil war, she left Shanghai in September 1949 to attend the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), convened in Beijing by the Chinese Communist Party to establish a new Central People's Government. On 1 October, she was a guest at the ceremony in Tiananmen Square marking the birth of the new People's Republic of China. The Nationalist government issued an order for her arrest,[35] but this was soon blocked by the swift military victory of the Communists. The KMT fled from mainland China to Taiwan soon after this. Soong was the third person in the new government mentioned by Mao in the founding Proclamation of the People's Republic of China.
Soong was held in great esteem by the victorious Communists, who reckoned her as a link between their movement and Sun's earlier movement.[34] After the formal establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, she became one of six vice chairpeople of the Central People's Government,"[36] and one of several vice-chairpeople of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.[36] In April 1951, it was announced that she had been awarded the Stalin Peace Prize for 1950.[37]
In 1953 Soong served on the committees preparing for elections to the new National People's Congress and the drafting of the 1954 constitution. Soong was elected a Shanghai deputy to the first NPC, which adopted the constitution at its first meeting in September 1954. She was elected one of 14 vice-chairpeople of the NPC's standing committee, chaired by Liu Shaoqi. In December of the same year, she was elected a vice-chairwoman of the CPPCC, which became a consultative body, and replaced Liu Shaoqi as chairperson of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association. During this period, Soong traveled abroad several times, visiting Austria, India, Burma, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Her trips included a January 1953 visit to the Soviet Union, where she was received by Stalin shortly before his death. She visited Moscow again in 1957 with Mao Zedong's delegation to the 40th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.[37]
According to one of Soong's biographers, she had wanted to join the Chinese Communist Party as early as 1957. However, when she asked Liu Shaoqi for permission to join the party, the request was turned down because "it was thought better for the revolution that she not join formally, but that she would thenceforth be informed, and her opinion sought, concerning all important inner-Party events matters, not only those involving the government."[38]
In April 1959, Soong again served as a Shanghai deputy at the 2nd National People's Congress. At this Congress, Mao Zedong and Zhu De stepped down as President and Vice-President of the People's Republic of China. Liu Shaoqi was elected State Chairman (President), and Soong Ching-ling and Dong Biwu, a senior Communist Party 'elder', were elected Vice President of China. Soong resigned at this time from her positions as vice-chairwoman of the CPPCC National Committee and the NPC Standing Committee.[37]
She was re-elected to the post of Vice-chairperson of the PRC at the Third National People's Congress in 1965, and appeared frequently in the early 1960s on ceremonial occasions, often greeting important visitors from abroad.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Soong was heavily criticized by Red Guard factions, and in one incident, the marker of her parents' grave was toppled and their bodies exposed.[39] Following this incident Premier Zhou Enlai recommended that Soong Ching-ling be put on a "List of Cadres to be protected." Zhou's recommendation was approved by Mao Zedong.[40] Mao Zedong sent his wife, Jiang Qing, to visit Soong and explain the purpose of the "Cultural Revolution." In response, Soong remarked that it should, above all, avoid harming the innocent, which embarrassed Jiang.[41]
Despite Soong’s support of the CCP, she was skeptical of some radical actions such as the purging of capitalists and party moderates such as Liu Shaoqi from the government.[42] Soong wrote seven letters to criticize the Cultural Revolution Campaign and objected to the excessive violence against her colleagues and other moderates within the CCP.[43] In her letters with friends, Soong called Jiang a "queen" and "shameless bitch."[41]
Late in the Cultural Revolution, during the 4th NPC which approved the 1975 Constitution in January 1975, Soong's term as Vice President of China ended with the abolishment of that post, after which she was again appointed one of the vice-chairwomen of the NPC Standing Committee.[44]
Her last public appearance was on 8 May 1981, when she appeared in a wheelchair at the Great Hall of the People to accept an honorary LL.D. degree from the University of Victoria. A few days later she began running a high fever and was unable to rise again.
On 16 May 1981, less than two weeks before her death, she was admitted to the Communist Party and named Honorary Chairwoman of the People's Republic of China. She is the only person to ever hold this title.[45] Song Renqiong and Liao Chengzhi visited Soong in the hospital and informed her of the Politburo's decision, first in Chinese and then in English for confirmation.[46]
Soong died on 29 May, 1981 in Beijing at the age of 88. More than 50 party and state leaders, along with relatives from overseas and close friends, gathered to pay their final respects at her bedside. The Chinese government declared three days of mourning, ordered flags to be lowered at Chinese embassies worldwide, and held a state funeral for Miss Soong on 3 June.[47]
Hosted by Hu Yaobang, who was widely expected to become the next chairman of the CCP, the televised mourning ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing drew over 10,000 attendees. Notable participants included Hua Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping, and Ye Jianying. In his eulogy, Deng Xiaoping mentioned that Soong, the aunt of then-President of Taiwan Chiang Ching-kuo, had expressed hope for reunification talks between the governments of Beijing and Taipei in the near future.[48]
In 1938, Soong founded China Welfare Institute in Shanghai.
In 1950, Soong became chairwoman of the Chinese People's Relief Administration, which combined several organizations dealing with welfare and relief issues. Her China Welfare Fund was reorganized as the China Welfare Institute and began publishing the magazine China Reconstructs, now published as China Today. In 1953, a collection of her writings, Struggle for New China, was published.[37]
In 1951, Soong donated her Stalin Award to China Welfare Institute, which was then used to establish International Peace Maternity And Child Health Hospital in Shanghai in 1952.
According to her wishes, Soong's cremated remains were placed next to her parents' restored grave in the Soong family burial plot at Shanghai's International Cemetery (Chinese: 万國公墓),[49] which was later renamed in her honor as the Soong Ching-ling Memorial Park (Chinese: 宋庆龄陵园).
Several of Soong Ch'ing-ling's former residences have also been transformed into museums:
In 1918, Soong and her husband Sun Yat-sen lived in a house in the French Concession of Shanghai. After her husband's death, Soong continued to reside there until 1937. The house has now been converted into a museum dedicated called the Former Residence of Sun Yat-sen. Though dedicated primarily to Sun, it also contains some of Soong's artefacts during their life together.
From 1948 to 1963 Soong Ching-ling lived in the western end of the French Concession in Shanghai. This building is now the Soong Ching-ling Memorial Residence. A memorial hall containing some of her belongings and photographs stands near the entrance. The main building and gardens are preserved in near original state with original furnishings throughout. In the garage are two large cars: one Chinese built Red Flag limousine and another Russian car presented to Soong by Joseph Stalin.
Soong Ching-ling obtained a mansion in Beijing in 1963 where she lived and worked for the rest of her life and received many dignitaries. After her death the site was converted into the Former Residence of Soong Ching-ling as a museum and memorial. The rooms and furniture have been kept as she had used them, and memorabilia are displayed.
In 1982, the Chinese government founded the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, to unite charitable organisations under Soong across China.[50] Soong's charitable foundation in Hong Kong is known as Hong Kong Rosamond Foundation.
In 2008, the China Welfare Institute founded Soong Ching Ling School in Shanghai.[51]
Five years after her death, the Honorary President of the People's Republic of China was depicted in the film Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Soong is played by Maggie Cheung in the 1997 Hong Kong movie The Soong Sisters. Since the turn of the Millennium, she has been portrayed by various actresses in several mainland China historical drama movies.
| Year | Actress | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Zhang Yan | Dr. Sun Yat-sen |
| 1997 | Maggie Cheung | The Soong Sisters |
| 2009 | Xu Qing | The Founding of a Republic |
| 2011 | Dong Jie | The Founding of a Party |
| Jiang Wenli | 1911 | |
| 2012 | Luo Yang | Back to 1942 |
| 2015 | Joan Chen | Cairo Declaration |
| 2017 | Song Jia | The Founding of an Army |
| 2019 | Qin Lan | Mao Zedong 1949 |
| 2021 | Liu Shishi | 1921 |
Soong is a main character in Huang Ruo's 2011 Chinese-language western-style opera, Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
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