Born: March 5, 1897, Shanghai, China
Died: October 23, 2003, New York, U.S.
Soong Mei-ling or Soong May-ling was the third daughter of Chinese industrialist Charlie Soong, who became one of the most influential women in the 20th century as the wife of Kuomintang (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek. Born to a wealthy Christian family in Shanghai, Mei-ling was educated in the United States at Wesleyan College for Women in Georgia and Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She returned to China in 1917, three years after her older sister Soong Ching-ling had married KMT founder and Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. In 1927 Mei-ling married Chiang Kai-shek, who had secured leadership of the KMT after Sun’s death in 1925 and sought to ally himself with the influential Soong family. As Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Mei-ling served as an interpreter and adviser to her husband in his dealings with the West. Through articles she wrote for United States publications and through transoceanic radio broadcasts, Mei-ling was influential in gaining United States support for the KMT war effort against Japan in World War II (1939-1945). The highlight of her popularity in the United States came in 1943 when she spoke on China’s behalf before a joint session of the United States Congress. When the KMT lost control of China to the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, Mei-ling fled to Taiwan with the KMT government and continued to serve as her husband’s personal envoy. After Chiang’s death in 1975 Mei-ling moved to the United States, where she resided till her death.
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