| Honorary President of the People's Republic of China First Lady of the Republic of China Soong Ching-ling 宋庆龄/宋慶齡 | |
|---|---|
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| Honorary President of the People's Republic of China | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 16 May 1981 | |
| Vice Chairperson of the 4th and 5th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 17 January 1975 Serving with Dong Biwu and 20 others | |
| Vice Chairperson of the People's Republic of China | |
| In office 27 April 1959 – 17 January 1975 Serving with Dong Biwu | |
| President | Liu Shaoqi (Until 1968) |
| Preceded by | Zhu De |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Vice Chairperson of the 1st Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |
| In office 27 September 1954 – 26 April 1959 Serving with Lin Boqu and 12 others | |
| Member of the National People's Congress | |
| In office 15 September 1954 – 28 May 1981 | |
| Constituency | Shanghai At-large |
| Vice Chairperson of the Central People's Government Council | |
| In office 1 October 1949 – 26 September 1954 Serving with Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Gao Gang | |
| Premier | Zhou Enlai |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 January 1893 Huangpu District, Shanghai |
| Died | 29 May 1981 (aged 88) Beijing |
| Political party | Communist Party |
| Other political affiliations | Kuomintang |
| Spouse(s) | Sun Yat-sen |
| Alma mater | Wesleyan College |
| Religion | Methodism |
| Soong Ching-ling | |||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 宋慶齡 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 宋庆龄 | ||||||||
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Soong Ching-ling (pinyin: Sòng Qìnglíng; 27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981) was the second wife of Sun Yat-sen, leader of the 1911 revolution that established the Republic of China, and was often referred to as Mme. Sun Yat-sen. She was a member of the Soong family, and together with her brothers and sisters played a prominent role in China's politics prior to 1949. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, she held several prominent positions in the new government, and traveled abroad during the early 1950s, representing China at a number of international activities. During the Cultural Revolution, however, she was heavily criticized; in one incident in 1966, her parents' grave was destroyed by Red Guards.[1] Soong survived the Cultural Revolution, but appeared less frequently after 1976. During her final illness in May 1981, she was given the special title of Honorary President of the People's Republic of China. As a consequence she became the first known non-traditional head of state of an independent country in Asia.
Life and activities before 1949
Soong Ching-ling was born to businessman and missionary Charlie Soong in what is now Chuansha, a district of Pudong, Shanghai,[2][3] the second of six children. She attended McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai, and graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, United States.[4] Like her sisters, she spoke fluent English due to being educated in English for most of her life. Her Christian name was Rosamonde (in her early years, her passport name was spelt as Chung-ling Soong, and in her Wesleyan College diploma, her name was Rosamonde Chung-ling Soong).
Soong married Sun Yat Sen, leader of China's 1911 revolution and founder of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party), on 25 October 1915, even though her parents greatly opposed the match. (Dr. Sun was 26 years her senior.) After Sun's death in 1925, she was elected to the KMT Central Executive Committee. However, she left China for Moscow after the expulsion of the Communists from the KMT in 1927, accusing the KMT of betraying her husband's legacy. Her younger sister, May-ling, married Chiang Kai-shek shortly afterward, making Chiang Soong's brother-in-law.
Soong returned to China in June 1929 when Sun Yat-sen was moved from his temporary burial site in Beijing to a new memorial in Nanjing, but left again three months later, and did not return until July 1931, when her mother died. She resided afterwards in Shanghai until July 1937, when the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) broke out. Following the outbreak of hostilities, she moved first to Hong Kong (where she befriended future restaurateur and philanthropist Madame Wu [Sylvia Cheng][5]), then to Chongqing, the wartime capital of the Chinese government. In 1939, she founded the China Defense League, which raised funds and sought supplies primarily for the Chinese Communist controlled areas of northern China. In 1946, the League was renamed the China Welfare fund, continuing to seek funds and support for the Chinese Communists.[6]
During the Chinese Civil War, Soong permanently broke with her family and supported the Commnunists. With the collapse of the Nationalist government and the Communist victory in the civil war, she left Shanghai in September 1949 to attend the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), convened in Beijing by the Chinese Communist Party to establish a new Central People's Government. On October 1, she was a guest at the ceremony in Tiananmen Square marking the birth of the new People's Republic of China. The Nationalist government issued an order for her arrest,[7] but the swift military victory of the Communists led to the KMT's retreat from mainland China to Taiwan soon after this.
Political offices and activities after 1949
Soong was held in great esteem by the victorious Communists, who reckoned her as a link between their movement and Sun's earlier movement.[8] After the formal establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, she became one of six vice chairmen of the Central People's Government Council,[9] and one of several vice-chairmen of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.[10] In April 1951, it was announced that she had been awarded the Stalin Peace Prize for 1950.[11]
In 1950, Soong became chairman of the Chinese People's Relief Administration, which combined several organizations dealing with welfare and relief issues. Her China Welfare Fund was reorganized as the China Welfare Institute and began publishing the magazine China Reconstructs, now published as China Today. In 1953, a collection of her writings, Struggle for New China, was published.[12]
In 1953 Soong served on the committees preparing for elections to the new National People's Congress and the drafting of the 1954 constitution. Soong was elected a Shanghai deputy to the first NPC, which adopted the constitution at its first meeting in September 1954. She was elected one of 14 vice-chairman of the NPC's standing committee, chaired by Liu Shaoqi. In December of the same year, she was elected a vice-chairman of the CPPCC, which became a consultative body, and replaced Liu Shaoqi as chairman of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association. During this period, Soong traveled abroad several times, visiting Vienna, India, Burma, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Her trips included a January 1953 visit to the Soviet Union, where she was received by Stalin shortly before his death. She visited Moscow again in 1957 with Mao Zedong's delegation to the 40th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.[13] According to one of Soong's biographers, in 1957, Soong told Liu Shaoqi that she wanted to join the Communist Party, but her request was rejected because "it was thought better for the revolution that she not join formally, but that she would thenceforth be informed, and her opinion sought, concerning all important inner-Party events matters, not only those involving the government."[14]
In April 1959, Soong again served as a Shanghai deputy at the Second National People's Conference. At this Congress, Mao Zedong and Zhu De stepped down as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the People's Republic of China. Liu Shaoqi was elected Chairman (Head of State), and Soong Ching-ling and Dong Biwu, a senior Communist Party 'elder', were elected Vice Chairpersons of the People's Republic of China. Soong resigned at this time from her positions as vice-chairwoman of the CPPCC and the NPC.[15] She 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.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Soong was heavily criticized by Red Guard factions, and in one incident, the marker of her parents' grave was toppled and their bodies exposed.[16] According to Soong's biographer, following this incident Zhou Enlai recommended that Soong Ching-ling be put on a "List of Cadres to be protected." Zhou's recommendation was approved by Mao Zedong.[17]
Late in the Cultural Revolution, during the 4th NPC which approved the 1975 Constitution in January 1975, Soong was removed as Vice-Chairperson of the People's Republic of China and again appointed one of the vice-chairwoman of the NPC Standing Committee.[18]
Last years
Soong's public appearances were limited after the Cultural Revolution, and she was in generally poor health, but articles by her, primarily on children's welfare issues, continued to appear in the press. Her last public appearance was on May 8, 1981, when she appeared in a wheelchair at the Great Hall of the People to accept an honorary LL.D. degree from Victoria College. A few days later she began running a high fever and was unable to rise again. On 16 May 1981, less than two weeks before her death, she was admitted to the Communist Party and named Honorary President of the People's Republic of China (Chinese: 中华人民共和国名誉主席). She is the only person to ever hold this title.[19]
Museums
Soong Ching-ling obtained a mansion in Beijing in 1963 where she lived and worked for the rest of her life and received many dignitaries. After her death the site was converted into the Former Residence of Soong Ching-ling as a museum and memorial; rooms and furniture are kept as she had used them, and memorabilia are displayed. Her former residence in Shanghai has also been converted into a memorial museum.
Media portrayal
In the 1997 Hong Kong movie The Soong Sisters (宋家皇朝), she is portrayed by Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung.
In the 2009 mainland China movie "The Founding of a Republic" (建國大業), She was portrayed by Xu Qing.
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Soong Ching-ling in Shanghai, 1920
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Soong Ching-ling accompanied Sun Yat-sen in 1924 on his final trip to Beijing
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Soong Ching-ling's Wesleyan College diploma
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Soong Ching-ling with Klim Voroshilov in 1957
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See also
Notes
- ^ Israel Epstein, Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling, p. 551.
- ^ 宋庆龄上海出生地解谜
- ^ 宋庆龄出生地在川沙
- ^ Emily Hahn, The Soong Sisters, 43–45
- ^
- ^ Israel Epstein, Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling, p. 437.
- ^ "Mme. Sun Yat-Sen Ordered Arrested". Los Angeles Times. 9 October 1949.
- ^ Song Qingling at Encyclopedia Britannica
- ^ Klein, Donald W., and Anne B. Clark. Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965, 2:785
- ^ Klein, Donald W., and Anne B. Clark. Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965, 2:785
- ^ Klein, Donald W., and Anne B. Clark. Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965, 2:786
- ^ Klein, Donald W., and Anne B. Clark. Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965, 2:786
- ^ Klein, Donald W., and Anne B. Clark. Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965, 2:786
- ^ Israel Epstein, Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling, p. 491.
- ^ Klein, Donald W., and Anne B. Clark. Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965, 2:786
- ^ Israel Epstein, Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling, p. 551.
- ^ Israel Epstein, Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling, p. 550.
- ^ Sheng Yonghua, Song Qingling nianpu Guangdong renmin chubanshe, 2006, 2: 601
- ^ Israel Epstein, Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling, p. 616-617
References
- Chang, Jung and Jon Halliday. Madame Sun Yat-Sen: Soong Ching-Ling. London: Penguin, 1986. ISBN 0-14-008455-X
- Epstein, Israel. Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling. Beijing: China Intercontinental Press, 1993. ISBN 7-80005-161-7.
- Hahn, Emily. The Soong Sisters. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co, 1941.
- Klein, Donald W., and Anne B. Clark. Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965. 2 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1971.
- Seagrave, Sterling. The Soong Dynasty. London: Corgi Books, 1996. ISBN 0-552-14108-9
External links
- Soong Ching Ling Foundation Website
- Soong Ching Ling Foundation Introduction
- Former Residence of Song Qingling, Beijing
- Memorial Residence, Shanghai
- China Welfare Institute
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Vice Chairperson of the People's Central Government 1949–1954 Served alongside: Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Gao Gang | Succeeded by Zhu De |
| Preceded by Zhu De | Vice President of the People's Republic of China 1959–1972 Served alongside: Dong Biwu | Succeeded by Dong Biwu |
| Preceded by Liu Shaoqi | President of the People's Republic of China Acting 1968–1972 Served alongside: Dong Biwu | |
| Preceded by Zhu De | Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Acting 1976–1978 | Succeeded by Ye Jianying |
| Honorary titles | ||
| New office | Honorary President of the All-China Women's Federation 1949–1981 | None |
| Preceded by Liu Shaoqi as President of the People's Republic of China | Honorary President of the People's Republic of China 1981 | Succeeded by Li Xiannian as President of the People's Republic of China |
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