Soong Ching-ling

Soong Ching-ling was born in Shanghai, China on 27 January 1893, though the exact location of her birth remains debated. Her father, Charlie Soong, was a businessman and missionary originally from Wenchang, Hainan. Influenced by his uncle, who ran a grocery store in the United States, Charlie became enamoured with America when he was young. He was converted into Christianity in Wilmington, North Carolina in November 1880 and returned to China for missionary works in 1886. Her 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. She was educated at a high school run by American missionaries in Shanghai, where she met Charlie Soong. Married in 1890, the couple initially engaged in missionary work and business in Kunshan, later continuing their missionary efforts in Chuansha.

Charlie was deeply committed to education in the United States for his daughters. He 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. Acting on the advice of his missionary friend William Burke, who had ties to the Mulberry Street United Methodist Church in Macon, Charlie sent his eldest daughter Ai-ling to Wesleyan College in 1904.

Ching-ling was among the first government-funded female Chinese students to study in the United States. The group, consisting of ten male and four female students, departed from Shanghai on 1 August 1907 and arrived in Seattle on 28 August, under the escort of Wen Bingzhong, the director of the Foreign Office of the Viceroy of Liangjiang. Ching-ling first attended school in Summit, New Jersey, to study Latin and French to fulfil Wesleyan's entrance requirements. She 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.

Although the Soong sisters spent most of their time on campus, they also travelled across the United States, navigating the prevailing anti-Chinese sentiments of the time. They were warmly received by local communities in the American South. In the summer of 1910, Ching-ling and Mei-ling attended summer school together at Fairmount College. In the summer of 1912, they participated in a church-sponsored YMCA conference in Montreat, North Carolina. During several Christmas holidays, they visited Washington, D.C., where they were hosted as guests of the Chinese ambassador.

Marriage to Sun Yat-sen

After graduating, Ching-ling's elder sister, Ai-ling, returned to Shanghai in 1908 and became the secretary to Sun Yat-sen. Sun became fascinated with Ai-ling, constantly gazing at her, although Ai-ling did not reciprocate his feelings in the same way. Ching-ling graduated from Wesleyan in 1913, and returned to China via Yokohama, Japan, where she met Sun. Ai-ling resigned in 1914 to marry H. H. Kung, passing the position on to Ching-ling, who admired Sun as the hero who founded the Chinese Republic. In the summer of 1915, Ching-ling returned to Shanghai, asking her parents for their permission to marry Sun, which shocked the family. She was 22 and he was 49 at the time. Ching-ling was confined at home in Shanghai, during which Sun divorced with his wife Lu Mu-zhen.

Despite objections from her father, Ching-ling married Sun Yat-sen on 25 October 1915. There were limited witnesses in their wedding ceremony in Tokyo, which included Wada Mizu, who provided his home for the wedding, Liao Zhong-kai and Liao's 11-year-old daughter Cynthia. 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. Additionally, many of Sun's colleagues did not acknowledge Ching-ling as his wife, referring to her as Miss Soong rather than Mrs Sun. As Ching-ling could only speak Shanghainese and English, her husband had to talk with her in English rather than Chinese.

1916–1922: Guangzhou

Sun's political rival, Yuan Shikai, stepped down in 1916 following his short-lived attempt to restore the monarchy. In May of the same year, Sun and Ching-ling returned to Shanghai. In 1917, Sun travelled to Guangzhou to establish a rival government opposing Duan Qirui's Beijing government, while Ching-ling stayed behind in Shanghai. However, Sun's strong-handed policies alienated the new government in Guangzhou, leading to his expulsion and subsequent departure from the city. The couple began to live together in a large European-styled mansion in Shanghai French Concession.

In November 1920, Sun returned to Guangzhou with the support of local military leader Chen Jiongming to establish a new government. On 7 April 1921, he assumed the title of Grand President of the Republic of China, setting up a breakaway regime to oppose the internationally recognised government in Beijing.

However, on 16 June 1922, Chen Jiongming rebelled. During the uprising, Ching-ling chose to stay behind to cover Sun's escape, declaring, "China can do without me; it cannot do without you." During her own flight, Ching-ling suffered a miscarriage and was later informed that she would never be able to conceive again. Ching-ling, thereafter, became respected as Madame Sun Yat-sen.

Charitable organisations

In 1982, the Chinese government founded the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, to unite charitable organisations under Soong across China. Soong's charitable foundation in Hong Kong is known as Hong Kong Rosamond Foundation.

In 2008, the China Welfare Institute founded Soong Ching Ling School in Shanghai.