Chen Jieru (; 26 August 1906 – 21 January 1971), also spelled Ch'en Chieh-ju, was the second wife of

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

. She was nicknamed Jennie. Chen's ancestral hometown was Ningpo (

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

), Chekiang (

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

) Province, and she was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. She wrote a memoir which Chiang successfully suppressed during his lifetime.《人物：红颜命薄--做了七年蒋介石夫人的陈洁如(图)》
��摘自赵宏著《蒋介石家族的女人们》，news.sina.com.cn轉載。 It was finally published in 1993. In the memoir, Chen details how she and Chiang Kai-shek met at the home of a mutual friend in 1918 and how he pursued her, finally convincing her to marry him on 5 December 1921 by stating that his arranged marriage with

Mao Fumei Mao Fumei ( zh, c=毛福梅, 9 November 1882 – 12 December 1939) was the first wife of Chiang Kai-shek, and the biological mother of Chiang Ching-Kuo. Mao was born in Fenghua, Ningpo (Ningbo), Chekiang (Zhejiang) Province, and, like most w ...

was unhappy and

celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, th ...

, and his liaison with

Yao Yecheng Yao Yecheng (, 26 August 1887 – 1966), along with Chen Jieru (, "Jennie", 1906–1971) was among the two concubines of Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek (, 1887–1975) during the time when Chiang was also in an arranged marriage t ...

was a social courtesy following her disfigurement. The couple held their wedding at East Hotel in Shanghai. On their wedding night, Chiang infected Chen with

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

, the treatment for which left her infertile. Due to this, she adopted Chiang Yao-kuang. Chiang promised Chen that he was marrying

Soong Meiling Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling, ; March 5, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang, was a Chinese political figure who was First Lady of the Republic of China, the wife of Generalissimo and ...

( "Madame Chiang") for political convenience before a Buddhist shrine, saying "Should I break my promise and fail to take her back, may the Great Buddha smite me and my Nanjing government.", and arranged for her to go to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on a five-year "study tour"; after this she was meant to return and married life would resume. However, once there, Chen learned from press articles that Chiang denied their marriage and said that he had paid for a "concubine" to move to the United States, which deeply aggrieved Chen.

Death

Chen died on 21 January 1971 in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

. In 2002, her remains were moved to Shanghai by her sole heir, fulfilling her last wish to be returned to her native place, making her the first in Chiang Kai-shek's family to be buried in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

after the end of

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

in 1949. Her remains were then laid at Fushou Park in

Qingpu District Qingpu District, is a suburban district of Shanghai Municipality. Lake Dianshan is located in Qingpu. The population of Qingpu was counted at 1,081,000 people in the 2010 Census. It has an area of . Qingpu District is the westernmost distr ...

. The Kuomintang asked Jennie Chen for all copies of her diaries and memoirs, but in 1971 American author Ginny Connor took notes from Chen's memoirs. In 1993, Connor stated that she planned to write her own book based on the notes since ''

Chiang Kai-shek's Secret Past ''Chiang Kai-shek's Secret Past: The Memoir of His Second Wife, Ch'en Chieh-ju'' is a book by Chen Jieru, Jennie Chen Jieru (as Chen Chieh-ju), with Lloyd E. Eastman as the editor and author of the introduction. It was the final work with work don ...

'', another memoir based on notes from Jennie Chen, had been published.

Works

* ''

'' - A memoir

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Jieru 1906 births 1971 deaths Chiang Kai-shek family Chinese autobiographers Writers from Shanghai Spouses of Chinese politicians