1. Chiang Wei-kuo, known as Wego Chiang, was the adopted son of Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek, the adoptive brother of President Chiang Ching-kuo, a retired Army general, and an important figure in the Kuomintang.
27 Facts About Chiang Wei-kuo
1. 2.
Chiang Wei-kuo previously discredited any such claims and insisted he was a biological son of Chiang Kai-shek until his later years, when he admitted that he was adopted.
3.
Yao Yecheng, a concubine of Chiang Kai-shek at the time, raised Wei-kuo as his foster mother.
4.
Chiang Wei-kuo moved to the Chiang Wei-kuo ancestral home in Xikou Town of Fenghua in 1920.
5.
Chiang Wei-kuo was promoted to Fahnenjunker, and received a Schutzenschnur lanyard.
6.
Chiang Wei-kuo commanded a Panzer unit during the 1938 Austrian Anschluss as a Fahnrich, or "sergeant officer-candidate", leading a tank into that country.
7.
Chiang Wei-kuo was stationed at a garrison in Xi'an in 1941.
8.
Chiang Wei-kuo would become a Major at 28, a Lieutenant Colonel at 29, a Colonel at 32 whilst in charge of a tank battalion, and later in Taiwan, a Major General.
9.
Chiang Wei-kuo was in charge of a tank battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment during the Huaihai Campaign against Mao Zedong's troops, scoring some early victories.
10.
Chiang Wei-kuo continued to hold senior positions in the Republic of China Armed Forces following the ROC retreat to Taiwan.
11.
In 1964, following the Hukou Incident and his subordinate Chao Chih-hwa's attempted coup d'etat, Chiang Wei-kuo was in the penalty box and never held any authority in the military.
12.
From 1964 onwards, Chiang Wei-kuo made preparations in establishing a school dedicated to teaching warfare strategy; such a school was established in 1969.
13.
In 1975, Chiang Wei-kuo was further promoted to the position of general, and served as president of the Armed Forces University.
14.
In 1980, Chiang Wei-kuo served as joint logistics commander in chief; then in 1986, he retired from the army and became National Security Council Secretary-General.
15.
Chiang Wei-kuo ran as vice-president with Taiwan Governor Lin Yang-kang in the 1990 ROC indirect presidential election.
16.
Chiang Wei-kuo later established the Chingshin Elementary School in Taipei to commemorate his late wife.
17.
In 1957, Chiang Wei-kuo remarried, to Ellen Chiu Ju-hsueh, known as Chiu Ai-lun, a daughter of Chinese and German parents.
18.
Chiang Wei-kuo Hsiao-kang is the youngest of the Hsiao generation of the Chiang Wei-kuo family.
19.
Chiang Wei-kuo was quite active in civil society, where he was the founder of the Chinese Institute of Strategy and Sino-German Cultural and Economic Association, as well as the Chairman of the Republic of China Football Association.
20.
Chiang Wei-kuo was the first chairman of Chingshin Primary School and served as the president of the United States Students Association of China.
21.
Chiang Wei-kuo was a Freemason, and was the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of China from 1968 to 1969.
22.
Chiang Wei-kuo's request was largely ignored by both the Nationalist and Communist governments, and he was persuaded to abandon the petition by his father's widow Soong Mei-ling in November 1996.
23.
Chiang Wei-kuo himself admitted the possibility of a link between the guns and his maid's death, which was later ruled a suicide by the police.
24.
In 1993, Chiang Wei-kuo was employed as a senior advisor to President Lee Teng-hui despite their previous political rivalry.
25.
Chiang Wei-kuo died at the age of 80, on 22 September 1997, from kidney failure.
26.
Chiang Wei-kuo had been experiencing falling blood pressure complicated by diabetes after a 10-month stay at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei.
27.
Chiang Wei-kuo had wished to be buried in Suzhou on the mainland but was instead buried at Wuchih Mountain Military Cemetery.