1948, the situation of the Liberation War began to reverse. In order to save the Kuomintang's defeat, the "first lady" who is skilled in diplomacy went to the United States to seek assistance. Since then, she has completely left mainland China and has not been able to set foot on the mainland again until her death.
Although it is far away in the United States, Soong Mei-ling does not forget to worry about her second sister who is gradually drifting away from her due to political differences.
On May 19, 1949, Soong Mei-ling wrote a letter from the United States to Soong Ching Ling . In the letter, she stated that she had always missed her overseas and hoped that she could be safe and smooth under the current harsh situation in the mainland.
Finally, she also said that whenever her second sister Soong Ching Ling needs her, she will do her best to lend a helping hand. If you really can't help, please write a letter to tell us about the latest situation.
This is the last official correspondence between her and Soong Ching Ling, and the flesh and blood affection contained on it is clear at a glance.
In the eyes of others, these sisters have become mortal enemies due to political reasons, but in fact, they still maintain a hostile and friendly special relationship...
1. The Song sisters who are on the verge of division
Thanks to the good family education of their father Song Jiashu and the elder sister Song Ailing 's love for sisters and brothers, the second generation of the Song family always maintained a good brotherhood from childhood to adolescence.
In 1908, Song's father planned to send his second daughter Soong Ching Ling to the United States for further study.
The younger sister Soong Mei-ling, who had been close to her second sister since childhood, found out that, and decided to go with her second sister, so Song's father had no choice but to promise to send the two sisters to the United States together.
At that time, Soong Ching Ling was 15 years old and Soong Mei-ling was 10 years old. The young sisters depended on each other during their stay in the United States, which made their relationship deeper.
After the two sisters returned to China after graduation, Soong Ching Ling married Sun Yat-sen shortly afterwards and fought for the revolutionary cause together. This made Soong Mei-ling, who had respected her second sister since childhood, admired her even more, and regarded her as a Joan of Arc.
If nothing unexpected happens, Soong Ching Ling and Soong Mei-ling will live in harmony and will always maintain a close sisterly relationship. However, the appearance of a man caused a crack in the relationship between the two sisters, and this person was Chiang Kai-shek . In order to use the power of the Song family to realize their political ambitions, Chiang Kai-shek pursued his unmarried young daughter Soong Mei-ling. In order to achieve his goal, he should believe in Christianity and decisively abandoned his wives, concubines and lovers.
Although Chiang Kai-shek deeply unhappy the Song family because of his background and private life, his political potential is valued by the Song family.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek had become one of the most powerful people in the Kuomintang. With the support of the Song family, which has huge energy in China's political and financial circles, he must have gone further and climbed to the highest level.
has a future Chinese leader to be the son-in-law of the Song family, which is very attractive to them.
The eldest sister Song Ailing expressed support for the marriage of these two people based on the interests brought by the marriage of Jiang and Song . At this time, Soong Ching Ling, who was far away in the Soviet Union, expressed strong opposition.
As Sun Yat-sen's widow, Soong Ching-ling has been striving to pursue and defend Mr. Sun's revolutionary ideals throughout her life. She is naturally full of hostility to Chiang Kai-shek who betrayed the National Revolution and Mr. Sun Yat-sen's will. What's more, Chiang Kai-shek's character is not very good. Soong Mei-ling is quite disgusted with this. Not to mention that his ex-wife Mao Fumei, who has abandoned him, are also concubines Yao Yecheng and lover Chen Jieru !
Soong Ching Ling said excitedly for this: "I would rather see my younger sister die than see her marry a man with at least two mistresses! Even if he is still unmarried in name now!"
So, she begged her sister to reconsider the marriage. After being rejected, she publicly expressed her refusal to return to China to attend the wedding, and also ridiculed that their marriage was just a product of political speculation and had no feelings at all.
After that, Soong Ching Ling and his younger sister went their separate ways, after all, they were different and did not plan to each other.
Since Soong Mei-ling married Chiang Kai-shek, she naturally had to stand on the same front with her husband. Forced by the situation, she could only continuously reduce her contact with her sister, and later she even had to go to war with her second sister who was standing in a hostile camp.
Due to political differences, the three Song family sisters who had deep feelings in the past fell into division. Especially Soong Ching Ling and Soong Mei-ling, the gap between the two continues to deepen.
During the Anti-Japanese War period, out of national justice, the three sisters of the Song family finally reunited and organized various national saving activities together. However, they knew very well that the innocent sisterly relationship in the past was gone forever. Now it was just the tranquility before the storm came. When the Japanese were driven away, they were likely to be enemies when they met again next time...
2. Sisters absent together Song Ziwen Funeral
After Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan, the Song brothers and sisters went their separate ways, either staying in the mainland, or turning to Taiwan, or going to the United States.
On April 25, 1971, Song Ziwen, who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, attended a banquet held by a friend and accidentally stuck a piece of food into the airway, causing to breathe . He eventually died suddenly due to heart failure . This incident soon spread to White House , attracting the high attention of US President Nixon .
It turns out that Nixon has been trying to continue to improve relations between China and the United States since the "Table Tennis Diplomacy". Now, Soong's funeral is an excellent opportunity, giving the US government sufficient reason to invite Soong Ching Ling, then vice chairman of New China, to visit the United States. This is not only conducive to the United States' diplomatic victory, but also promotes the long-lost reunion of the three sisters of the Song family based on humanitarianism.
So, Nixon sent a power to the three Song sisters and invited them to gather in New York to attend Song Ziwen's funeral.
Nixon's idea is reasonable. After all, according to the custom of Chinese deceased as a magnanimity and attaching importance to family affection, no matter how political differences the Song sisters are, they should let go of their estrangement to attend the funeral and give their brothers their last journey.
However, Nixon's thoughts eventually turned into a silence, which made him puzzled afterwards.
Taiwanese, at first, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to Soong Mei-ling go to the United States to attend the funeral, but when her special plane flew to Hawaii, Chiang Kai-shek changed his mind again.
It turned out that the news that Soong Ching Ling went to the United States to attend the funeral as Vice Chairman of New China reached his ears. Chiang Shen was afraid of falling into the "unified front trap" of the Communist Party of China, so he changed his mind and repeatedly generated electricity to ask Soong Mei-ling to change his course.
Song Mei-ling was very annoyed by Chiang Kai-shek's move, but after some thought, she finally chose to take the opportunity to return to Taipei.
Coincidentally, Soong Ching Ling also encountered a problem. Since there is no diplomatic relationship between China and the United States, it is difficult to solve the problem of aircraft chartering.
In desperation, Soong Ching Ling had to send a telephone to inform the US that she could not go to the US. In the end, among the three sisters of the Song family, only the eldest sister Song Ailing attended the funeral of Song Ziwen.
The three sisters failed to reunite in New York, which is definitely a great regret for their family affection.
3. The endless longing of sisters in their later years
Because Soong Ching Ling did not give birth to children, and because of politics, Soong Ching Ling, who stayed in the mainland, was full of loneliness and regret in the second half of her life. This is one of the reasons why she has been committed to the cause of child welfare. However, those children who are not their own after all, are out of their sincere love, and on the other hand, they want to find a company for their later years, so she adopted a child named Sui Yongqing .
Where there are children, there is vitality. Sui Yongqing's arrival brought a lot of joy and warmth to Soong Ching Ling in his later years. However, people will always grow up. As Sui Yongqing grew older, she also had to go out to study. Later, she joined the army and joined the art troupe, and she gradually spent less time with Soong Ching Ling.
Therefore, in his later years, Soong Ching Ling became more and more eager for family affection and missing his brothers and sisters.
When Soong Ching Ling was seriously ill, she told her friend Shen Cuizhen many times how much she cared about that little girl.This seems to be for Shen Cuizhen, but in fact it is for Deng Yingchao behind her.
Song Ching Ling also knew that her sister's identity was too sensitive, so she added: "If Meiling really could come and it was inconvenient to live here, she could let her live in Diaoyutai , pick her up in the morning and take her back in the evening."
Shen Cuizhen nodded, and after returning, she conveyed Soong Ching Ling's wishes to Deng Yingchao.
After Deng Yingchao reported to the central government, he decided to help Soong Ching Ling. Unfortunately, Soong Mei-ling was unable to travel far due to illness.
When Shen Cuizhen conveyed this matter, Soong Ching Ling sighed, "It's too late!"
At this time, she had already had a premonition that she was about to die soon, so she would say this.
Song Ching Ling was afraid that no one would be able to take her younger sister back to the mainland after she passed away, so she often reminded Shen Cuizhen: "There are not many people in China who know Soong Ching Ling. If she comes, you must receive her."
The mainland at that time had experienced various storms, and the younger generation had no impression of the name Soong Mei-ling, only the old people were familiar with them.
At this time, Soong Ching Ling was still thinking about her younger sister, which shows that she did not completely break with her because of political differences.
On May 29, 1981, Soong Ching Ling died of illness in Beijing. She left her last words to ask someone to bury herself in the Song Family Cemetery and be buried with her parents. The relevant departments also immediately sent invitations to Soong Ching Ling's relatives overseas, expressing their welcome to return to the mainland to attend the funeral.
This invitation made Taiwan's Chiang Ching-kuo very nervous, fearing that Soong Mei-ling, who was far away in New York, would do something wrong or say something wrong after going to the mainland, so he used various means and relationships to imply that the other party should not go to Beijing.
Soong Mei-ling wrote a letter to Chiang Ching-kuo in Taipei in New York, saying that he did not respond to Beijing's invitation.
In addition, she also said in the letter: "Although flesh and blood are close, the great way is the most important, and everything else is fine."
Jiang Ching-kuo breathed a sigh after receiving this letter, lamenting that his "mother" ultimately puts the great cause of the Party and the country first.
Some people may say that Soong Mei-ling is cold-blooded and ruthless, but in fact it is not the case. Although she rejected the invitation call from mainland China to visit relatives because of her own illness, she knew that her second sister was in serious condition and also called back to hope to receive her for treatment in New York.
1996, Soong Mei-ling, who was already 99 years old, said to her nephew Song Zhonghu : "My sisters and brothers are gone. I really don't know why God left me alone in the world."
At that time, the only six sisters and brothers in the Song family were the only one of Soong Mei-ling, who is still alive, can be imagined how lonely she was.
According to nephew Song Zhonghu, Soong Mei-ling often whispered in front of others in her later years, "If my second sister was still there..."
In his opinion, who had been with Soong Mei-ling for many years, they still had sisterly relationships between the two aunts, and they actually miss each other very much, especially in their later years. Unfortunately, the cross-strait situation at that time did not allow them to do so. It can be said that in the end, "politics" stopped them.
After celebrating his 100th birthday, Soong Mei-ling had to browse the album every day, especially often staring at the family photo taken by the Song family back then. When she flipped through the photos, she would always sigh in front of the staff around her: "The images of my relatives flashed in my mind like comets. They all went to God."
On October 24, 2003, Soong Mei-ling passed away at the age of 106. At this moment, she was finally able to meet her brothers and sisters without any scruples.
Before her death, she left the same last words as her second sister Soong Ching Ling. If she could return to the mainland one day, she must move herself to the Song Family Cemetery.
The wanderer who wanders overseas will eventually return to his hometown and be buried with his parents and relatives like his second sister.
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