The eldest Soong sister, Ai-ling, loved money, she became the wife of the banker H.H. Kung. The second Soong sister, Ching-ling, loved China, she became the wife of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The third Soong sister, Mei-ling, loved power. She was Madame Chiang, media darling and the power behind the Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek.
The Soong family played an enormous role in the Chinese revolt against the Manchu dynasty and in subsequent events. The father, Charlie Soong was an American educated Methodist minister who acquired a huge fortune in China publishing Bibles and then in commercial publishing. His fortune was instrumental in financing the Nationalist revolution. This participation was the reason his children were educated in the United States, he knew dangerous times were coming and he wanted them as far away as possible.
Mei-ling was born in 1897, fourth of six children. As a very little girl she was chubby, spoiled and ruled her family with a reign of terror. She always got her own way. At eight years of age she was sent to America to begin formal schooling. She was young, but her elder sisters and one brother were already there, and it seemed to Charlie Soong to be the safest thing to do. Mei-ling was very well liked by her schoolmates throughout her academic career. She returned to China in 1917 with a degree in English Literature, ten years later she married Chiang Kai-shek.
It is difficult to know the truth of the Chaings marriage. Some biographers describe it as one of the great love matches of all time, others describe it as a marriage of convenience. It is certain that Chiang was not as faithful as one might expect a professed Christian to be (he fathered at least one illegitimate son during his marriage) and it is equally certain that Mei-ling became immensely powerful. The Chiangs never had children.
Throughout the Second World War Madame Chiang acted as her husband's translator and secretary. She prepared daily précis of the English language news for him and interpreted social nuances of Western behavior that often baffled and infuriated the Chinese who were thrown into close contact with Allied military and diplomats. Her husband benefited greatly from her linguistic skills and political acumen.
Madame Chiang traveled extensively, with her husband and on her own, working to unify China. She was popular at home, having a vast knowledge of Chinese languages, literature and traditions, but her greatest admirers were the foreigners with whom she came into contact. She was a consummate politician, but never hesitated to play both ends against the middle to reach her goals. One such admirer was General Stilwell. He and Chiang Kai-shek loathed each other, but he found Madame Chiang sweet, reasonable, and sympathetic. She worked hard to foster this impression (although she cordially disliked him), her goal was to have China recognized as a great power and her husband a war leader on a level with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Stilwell had the ear of the Big Three at events such as the Cairo Conference of 1943. Perhaps if Madame Chiang had been less disinterested in the defeat of Germany as the first priority she may have succeeded. As is was, China's troubles in the war and with the Communists at home continued to be a distant second to the troubles of the Western Allies.
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