The Soong sisters () were

Soong Ai-ling Soong Ai-ling (), legally Soong E-ling or Eling Soong (July 15, 1889 – October 18, 1973) was a Chinese businesswoman, the eldest of the Soong sisters and the wife of H. H. Kung (Kung Hsiang-Hsi), who was the richest man in the early 20th centu ...

, Soong Ching-ling, and Soong Mei-ling, three

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the Districts of Shanghai, central districts of the Shanghai, City of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as ...

(of

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

descent) Christian Chinese women who were, along with their husbands, amongst

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

's most significant political figures of the early 20th century. They each played a major role in influencing their husbands,

H. H. Kung Kung Hsiang-hsi (; 11 September 1881 – 16 August 1967), often known as Dr. H. H. Kung, was a Chinese banker and politician in the early 20th century. He married Soong Ai-ling, the eldest of the three Soong sisters; the other two married Pres ...

Sun Yat Sen The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radia ...

(both also Christians) and

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 ...

, who, along with their own positions of power, ultimately changed the course of

Chinese history The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

. Their father was American-educated

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

minister

Charlie Soong Charles Jones Soong ( zh, c=宋嘉澍, p=Sòng Jiāshù, w=Sung Chia-shu; October 17, 1861 – May 3, 1918), also known by his courtesy name Soong Yao-ju ( zh, c=宋耀如, p=Sòng Yàorú, w=Sung Yao-ju), was a Chinese businessman who first achi ...

, who made a fortune in banking and printing. Their mother was Ni Kwei-tseng (倪桂珍 ''Ní Guìzhēn''), also a Methodist who came from an Episcopalian family. All three sisters attended Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, United States. Mei-ling, however, left Wesleyan and eventually graduated from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

in Massachusetts. Their three brothers were all high-ranking officials in the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

government, one of whom was T. V. Soong.

History

Throughout their lifetimes, each one of the sisters followed her own beliefs in terms of supporting the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

(KMT; Nationalists) or the Communists (CPC). In the 1930s,

and Mei-ling were the two richest women in China;Peterson, Barbara Bennett (ed.). (2000). ''Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early 20th century''. M.E. Sharp publishing. . both of them supported the Nationalists. In 1937, when the

Second Sino-Japanese war The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

broke out, all three of them got together after a 10-year separation in an effort to unite the KMT and CPC against the

Imperial Japanese army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. Soong Ai-ling devoted herself to social work such as helping wounded soldiers, refugees and orphans. She donated five ambulances and 37 trucks to the army 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 ...

and the air force, along with 500 leather uniforms. When the Japanese occupied

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

and

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

, the three sisters moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. In 1940, they returned to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

and established the

Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Chinese Industrial Cooperatives () (CICs) were organisations established in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937- 1945) to support China's war effort by organizing small-scale grassroots industrial and economic development. The movement ...

, which opened job opportunities for people through weaving, sewing and other crafts. The sisters frequently visited schools, hospitals, orphanages, air raid shelters and aided war torn communities along the way.

Three sisters

Their marriages and alleged motivations have been summarized in the Maoist saying "One loved money, one loved power, one loved her country" () referring to Ai-ling, Mei-ling, and Ching-ling in that order.

Cultural materials

* ''

The Soong Sisters The Soong sisters () were Soong Ai-ling, Soong Ching-ling, and Soong Mei-ling, three Shanghainese (of Hakka descent) Christian Chinese women who were, along with their husbands, amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20 ...

'', the award-winning 1997

film depicting the lives of the sisters * ''The Soong Sisters'', a 1941 book by Emily Hahn * ''The Soong Dynasty'', a 1985 book by Sterling Seagrave, * ''Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister'', a 2019 book by Jung Chang,

References

Bibliography

*''Soong Dynasty'' by Sterling Seagrave, Sidg. & J, 1985,

External links