1. Soong Ching-ling entered the Communist government in 1949, and was the only female, non-Communist head of state of the People's Republic of China.
62 Facts About Soong Ching-ling
1. 2.
Soong Ching-ling was named Honorary President of the People's Republic of China and admitted to the Chinese Communist Party, a few weeks before her death in 1981.
3.
Soong Ching-ling travelled abroad during the early 1950s, representing China at a number of international events.
4.
Soong Ching-ling survived the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution but appeared less frequently after 1976.
5.
Soong Ching-ling's name is rendered as Song Qingling in Pinyin.
6.
Soong Ching-ling was born in Shanghai, China on 27 January 1893, though the exact location of her birth remains debated.
7.
Soong Ching-ling's father, Charlie Soong, was a businessman and missionary originally from Wenchang, Hainan.
8.
Soong Ching-ling was converted into Christianity in Wilmington, North Carolina in November 1880 and returned to China for missionary works in 1886.
9.
Soong Ching-ling's 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.
10.
Soong Ching-ling was educated at a high school run by American missionaries in Shanghai, where she met Charlie Soong.
11.
Soong Ching-ling wanted them to receive a Methodist education, so he enrolled them at McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai, where Ching-ling studied from 1904 to 1907.
12.
Soong Ching-ling was among the first government-funded female Chinese students to study in the United States.
13.
Soong Ching-ling first attended school in Summit, New Jersey, to study Latin and French to fulfil Wesleyan's entrance requirements.
14.
Soong Ching-ling joined Ai-ling as a full-time college student at Wesleyan in the autumn of 1908, with their youngest sister Mei-ling accompanying them despite being only ten years old.
15.
Soong Ching-ling graduated from Wesleyan in 1913, and returned to China via Yokohama, Japan, where she met Sun.
16.
Kung, passing the position on to Soong Ching-ling, who admired Sun as the hero who founded the Chinese Republic.
17.
Soong Ching-ling was confined at home in Shanghai, during which Sun divorced with his wife Lu Mu-zhen.
18.
The Soong family chased Ching-ling to Tokyo, attempting to dissuade her from the marriage, with her father Charlie even appealing to the Japanese government to denounce Sun.
19.
In 1917, Sun travelled to Guangzhou to establish a rival government opposing Duan Qirui's Beijing government, while Soong Ching-ling stayed behind in Shanghai.
20.
Soong Ching-ling made her way to Shanghai after Sun's escape, where the couple reunited.
21.
In 1924, at the invitation of Feng Yuxiang, Sun and Soong Ching-ling travelled to Beijing to negotiate a peace deal with the Beijing government.
22.
On 24 February 1925, Wang Jingwei, who was widely considered Sun's political heir, announced that all of Sun's belongings would be entrusted to Soong Ching-ling and reaffirmed his commitment to the policies advocated by Soviet advisor Mikhail Borodin.
23.
On 14 July 1927, following Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei's announcements severing ties with the CCP, Soong Ching-ling issued a statement condemning the KMT-CCP split.
24.
Soong Ching-ling initially travelled from Wuhan to Shanghai, uncertain about whether to leave China.
25.
Soong Ching-ling found herself unable to fully align with either side.
26.
Soong Ching-ling arrived in Berlin on 1 May 1928, with assistance from the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.
27.
Soong Ching-ling was accompanied by Deng Yanda, a leftist leader of the Kuomintang, and cared for by Zhang Ke, a researcher from the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University.
28.
Soong Ching-ling played a significant role in his funeral arrangements, escorting the coffin of her husband Sun Yat-sen to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.
29.
Soong Ching-ling avoided contact with representatives of the KMT-led government, instead engaging with European labour movements and maintaining ties with major Communist organisations, despite the rising influence of the Nazis.
30.
Soong Ching-ling departed Berlin on 31 July 1931 to attend her mother's funeral.
31.
In 1931, Soong Ching-ling returned to China from Germany, for her mother's funeral.
32.
Soong Ching-ling delivered the offer from Moscow to exchange Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek, for the arrested Soviet intelligence officer Jakob Rudnik.
33.
In May 1933, Soong Ching-ling contacted Liao Chengzhi on behalf of Comintern to request intelligence from the CCP.
34.
Soong Ching-ling played a key role in rescuing Communist leaders, including Chen Geng, Liao Chengzhi, and Chen Duxiu, and communicated with the CCP viaher secretary Li Yun.
35.
Soong Ching-ling provided Dong Jianwu with a special passport signed by Zhang Xueliang, enabling him to link Communist organisations in Shanghai and Shaanxi.
36.
On 23 December 1937, to evade Japanese aggression, Soong Ching-ling moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong with her secretary Li Yun.
37.
Soong Ching-ling published influential articles, such as China Unconquerable, and penned letters appealing for global solidarity.
38.
In September 1945, Soong Ching-ling met Mao Zedong in Chongqing.
39.
On 23 July 1946, Soong Ching-ling issued an open letter in Shanghai, advocating for a coalition government between the KMT and the CCP and calling for the cessation of American aid to the KMT.
40.
Soong Ching-ling was the third person in the new government mentioned by Mao in the founding Proclamation of the People's Republic of China.
41.
Soong Ching-ling was held in great esteem by the victorious Communists, who reckoned her as a link between their movement and Sun's earlier movement.
42.
In 1950, Soong Ching-ling became chairwoman of the Chinese People's Relief Administration, which combined several organizations dealing with welfare and relief issues.
43.
Soong Ching-ling 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.
44.
In 1953 Soong Ching-ling served on the committees preparing for elections to the new National People's Congress and the drafting of the 1954 constitution.
45.
Soong Ching-ling was elected a Shanghai deputy to the first NPC, which adopted the constitution at its first meeting in September 1954.
46.
Soong Ching-ling was elected one of 14 vice-chairpeople of the NPC's standing committee, chaired by Liu Shaoqi.
47.
Soong Ching-ling's trips included a January 1953 visit to the Soviet Union, where she was received by Stalin shortly before his death.
48.
Soong Ching-ling visited Moscow again in 1957 with Mao Zedong's delegation to the 40th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
49.
Soong Ching-ling resigned at this time from her positions as vice-chairwoman of the CPPCC National Committee and the NPC Standing Committee.
50.
Soong Ching-ling 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.
51.
Soong Ching-ling wrote seven letters to criticize the Cultural Revolution Campaign and objected to the excessive violence against her colleagues and other moderates within the CCP.
52.
Soong Ching-ling moved to her Shichahai residence in Beijing, where she penned several articles commemorating late Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
53.
Soong Ching-ling requested that her name not be equated with the Father of the Nation Sun Yat-sen, expressing her belief that she was unworthy of such an honour.
54.
Soong Ching-ling had wanted to join the Chinese Communist Party as early as 1957.
55.
When she fell in 1981, Wang Guangmei, the widow of Liu Shaoqi, visited her and later approached Hu Yaobang to ask if Soong Ching-ling could be admitted to the CCP.
56.
Soong Ching-ling is the only person to ever hold this title.
57.
Soong Ching-ling's family sent a telegram to Mei-ling, hoping for a reunion.
58.
Mei-ling responded, suggesting that Soong Ching-ling be sent to New York, United States instead.
59.
Brizay noted that Soong Ching-ling did not like Mao Zedong but maintained a good relationship with Zhou Enlai.
60.
Soong Mei-ling criticised her sister Ching-ling for "being disloyal to her country, lacking benevolence to the people, failing to fulfil filial piety to her parents, showing infidelity in her marriage, neglecting righteousness to her relatives and friends, disregarding greater justice, showing no reverence for heaven and earth, offering no remonstrance to tyrants, and failing to pacify citizens".
61.
Soong Ching-ling is played by Maggie Cheung in the 1997 Hong Kong movie The Soong Ching-ling Sisters.
62.
Soong Ching-ling is a main character in Huang Ruo's 2011 Chinese-language western-style opera, Dr Sun Yat-sen.