Soong Ching-ling

{{Short description|Wife of Sun Yat-sen (1893–1981)}} {{redirect|Song Qingling|the field hockey player|Song Qingling (field hockey)}} {{family name hatnote|Soong|lang=Chinese}} {{use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling | native_name = {{No bold|宋庆龄}} | native_name_lang = zh-Hans-CN | image = 宋庆龄标准像.jpg | office = Honorary Chairman of China | appointer = the Standing Committee of the 5th National People's Congress on 16 May 1981 | premier = Zhao Ziyang | office1 = Vice Chairman of China | term_start1 = 27 April 1959 | term_end1 = 17 January 1975 | president1 = Liu Shaoqi<br />''Vacant'' (after 1968) | alongside1 = Dong Biwu | predecessor1 = Zhu De | successor1 = Ulanhu (1983) | office2 = Acting Chairman of China | premier2 = Zhou Enlai | term_start2 = 31 October 1968 | term_end2 = 24 February 1972 | predecessor2 = Liu Shaoqi (as Chairman) | successor2 = Dong Biwu (as Acting Chairman) | office3 = Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | term_start3 = 17 January 1975 | term_end3 = 29 May 1981 | 1blankname3 = Chairman | 1namedata3 = Zhu De<br />''Vacant''{{ref label|Acting|nb}}<br />Ye Jianying | term_start4 = 27 September 1954 | term_end4 = 28 April 1959 | 1blankname4 = Chairman | 1namedata4 = Liu Shaoqi | office5 = Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference | term_start5 = 25 December 1954 | term_end5 = 29 April 1959 | 1blankname5 = Chairman | 1namedata5 = Zhou Enlai | office6 = Vice Chairman of the Central People's Government | term_start6 = 1 October 1949 | term_end6 = 27 September 1954 | alongside6 = Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Gao Gang | 1blankname6 = Chairman | 1namedata6 = Mao Zedong | birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|1|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Shanghai, China | death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|5|29|1893|1|27|df=yes}} | death_place = Beijing, China | party = Kuomintang (1919–1947) <br/>Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (1948–1981) <br/>Chinese Communist Party (1981) | other_party = Communist International (1930s–1943) | spouse = {{marriage|Sun Yat-sen|25 October 1915|12 March 1925|end=d.}} | parents = Charlie Soong <br/>Ni Kwei-tseng | relatives = Soong family<br/>Chiang family (by marriage)<br/>Kung family (by marriage) | alma_mater = | signature = Signature of Soong Ching-ling, February 8, 1961.jpg | footnotes = n.b.&nbsp;{{note|Acting||Between 1976 and 1978, Soong presided over the meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and performed its powers as head of state in her capacity as the NPCSC First Vice Chairperson.}} | caption = Soong in Beijing, 1956 | term_start = 16 May 1981 | term_end = 29 May 1981 | honorific_suffix = OPC KGC | module = {{Infobox Chinese | child = yes | pic = | piccap = "Soong Ch'ing-ling" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | picsize = 140px | t = 宋慶齡 | s = 宋庆龄 | p = Sòng Qìnglíng | gr = Sonq Chinqling | w = Sung⁴ Ch'ing⁴-ling³ | mi = {{IPAc-cmn|s|ong|4|-|q|ing|4|.|l|ing|2}} | j = Sung³ Hing³-ling⁴ | y = Sung Hing-lìhng }} | resting_place = Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling | education = McTyeire School for Girls<br/>Wesleyan College (BA) }}

'''Soong Ch'ing-ling'''{{Efn|{{lang-zh|s=宋庆龄|t=宋慶齡|p=Sòng Qìnglíng|w=sung4 ch'ing4 ling2}}}} (27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981; Christian name '''Rosamonde'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Part 2: Dr Sun Yat-sen, Madam Soong Ching-ling and Hong Kong – "Dr Sun Yat-sen, Madam Soong Ching-ling and Hong Kong" Photos Exhibition |url=https://exhibition.hkrf.org.hk/en/exhibition-content-ii-en/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |language=en-US |archive-date=7 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207060138/https://exhibition.hkrf.org.hk/en/exhibition-content-ii-en/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> or '''Rosamond'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Soong sisters |url=https://www.wesleyancollege.edu/about/history/soongsisters.cfm |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=www.wesleyancollege.edu |language=en}}</ref>) was a Chinese politician. She was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, therefore known by '''Madame Sun Yat-sen{{Efn|{{lang-zh|s=孙夫人|t=孫夫人|p=Sūn Fūrén|w=sunfu jên2}}}}''' and the '''"Mother of Modern China"'''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Montefiore |first=Clarissa Sebag |date=2015-12-23 |title=Soong Qingling: 'The mother of modern China' |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20151223-soon-qingling-the-mother-of-modern-china |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> A member of the Soong family, she and her family played a significant role in shaping the Republic of China. As a prominent leader of the left wing of the Kuomintang (KMT), she founded the Revolutionary Committee of the KMT. She entered the Communist government in 1949, and was the only female, non-Communist head of state of the People's Republic of China. She was named Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China and admitted to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a few weeks before her death in 1981.

Born in Shanghai and educated in the United States, she married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China and the KMT, as his third wife in 1915 and became a strong advocate for Sun's KMT-CCP coalition, opposing Chiang Kai-shek's split with the CCP in 1927. During the Second Sino-Japanese War she joined her sisters in China's wartime capital Chongqing to demonstrate national unity and support for the KMT-CCP alliance. However, during the subsequent Chinese Civil War she continued her support to the CCP, leading to a break in ties with her family. After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, she held several prominent positions in the Communist government, including Vice Chairman of the PRC (1949–1954; 1959–1975) and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1954–1959; 1975–1981). She travelled abroad during the early 1950s, representing China at a number of international events.

Following the purge of President Liu Shaoqi in 1968, she and Dong Biwu as Vice Presidents became ''de facto'' Heads of State of China until 1972,<ref>[http://www.zarate.eu/china.htm Leaders of China (People's Republic of China)], zarate.eu from 11 May 2017, retrieved 12 July 2017.</ref> when Dong was appointed Acting President. During the Cultural Revolution, Soong was protected from being purged, as the top name on ''A List of Cadres to Be Protected'' created by Zhou Enlai. Despite this, her Beijing home was invaded by Red Guards, and her parents' tombs in Shanghai were destroyed.{{sfn|Epstein|1995|p=|pp=550-551}} Soong survived the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution but appeared less frequently after 1976. As the acting Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1976 to 1978, Soong was again the acting Head of State, as the office of President had been abolished. During her final illness in May 1981, she was given the special title of "Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China".

== Names and titles == As with the Chinese naming tradition, Soong was the family name, Ching-ling was the first name.{{Sfn|Epstein|1995|p=1}} Her name is also rendered as Song Qingling in Pinyin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Song Qingling {{!}} Wife of Sun Yat-sen, Nationalist leader |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Song-Qingling |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> In some early literature, she was referred to as Chung-ling Song,<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=https://dp.la/item/b1798d2c9e850e952ac1b642adde9429 |title=Mrs. Sun Yat Sen Rides With Army:Warlike Spirit In Marked Contrast To College Days In Georgia. Northwest History. China F-Pir. Famine To Pirates. 1919 To 1935. United States. |publisher=Spokesman Review}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=TIME |date=1927-02-21 |title=Foreign News: Wise Wives |url=https://time.com/archive/6897137/foreign-news-wise-wives/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=TIME |language=en |quote=Mrs. Sun Yat Sen. There was another little Chinese girl, and she went to Wesleyan College—amid the scenery of Macon, Ga. Chung-ling Soong was her name, and her two sisters were with her. They sometimes almost romped.}}</ref> a name she used during her time at Wesleyan.<ref name=":10" /> While studying there, she adopted the Christian name "Rosamonde" or "Rosamond."<ref name=":0" /> Ching-ling was named after Rosamonde Ricaud, the daughter of the Methodist minister who baptised her father in the United States in 1880.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spooner |first=Paul B. |date=2011 |title=Song Ailing and China's Revolutionary Elite |url=http://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40037/3279 |journal=Review of Culture |edition=International |location=Macau |publisher=Cultural Affairs Bureau |volume=37 |issue= |pages=27–45}}</ref> Among her close friends at Wesleyan, however, she was more commonly known as Suzie or Suzi.{{Sfn|Epstein|1995|p=1}}

After marrying Sun Yat-sen in 1915, she became known as Madame Sun Yat-sen.<ref name=":0" /> Her daughter-in-law and the wife of Sun Fo, {{Ill|Chen Suk-ying|zh|陳淑英}}, preferred to be called Mrs Sun, rather than Madame Sun, to avoid confusion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-11-07 |title=永远的"上海婆"：宋庆龄与孙中山后人的故事 |url=http://www.suninst.com.cn/zxdt/content/367/34583.html |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=The Museum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen |publication-place=Zhongshan, China}}</ref> As the wife and widow of the founder of the Chinese Republic, she was honoured as the "mother of modern China,"<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-24 |title=Exhibition honouring 'mother of modern China' to open |url=https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1714896-20230824.htm |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=RTHK |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chung-mao |first=Hsu |title=[Photo story] The Soong sisters and their place in Chinese modern history |url=https://www.thinkchina.sg/history/photo-story-soong-sisters-and-their-place-chinese-modern-history |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=ThinkChina - Big reads, Opinion & Columns on China |language=en}}</ref> by both major political parties in China, KMT and CCP.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dessima |first1=Williams |last2=CIMTech |date=1999 |title=Soong Ching-Ling (1893-1981) |url=https://people.brandeis.edu/~dwilliam/profiles/ching-ling.htm |website=Women Leaders and Transformation in Developing Countries |publisher=Brandeis University |publication-place=Waltham, MA}}</ref> The KMT, which hailed Sun Yat-sen as the "father of the nation," extended this honour to her as "the mother of the nation."'''{{Efn|{{lang-zh|s=国母|t=國母|p=guó mǔ|w=kuo2 mu3}}}}''' The CCP also occasionally used this title to refer to her. However, she was not Sun's only wife. Lu Muzhen was also sometimes described with the same term.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Müller |first=Gotelind |url=https://fid4sa-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/4474 |title=Chinese Grave Problems: The Historical Trajectory of the Republican-Era, Sun-Chiang-Soong Families as Mirrored in Their Tombs |publisher=CrossAsia-Repository |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-948791-19-3 |location=Heidelberg |pages=19–21 |doi=10.11588/xarep.00004474}}</ref>

Following the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, she assumed a largely symbolic role in the Communist government in Beijing.<ref name=":0" /> Premier Zhou Enlai revered her as "the treasure of the country."<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.hkscl.org/showroom/admin/downloadFile.jsp?webId=1338059320148007204&userFolder=filestore&fileName=1518499391948472086.pdf |title=Soong Ching Ling: Everlasting Love to Her Homeland |publisher=Hong Kong Soong Ching Ling Goldkey Training Foundation |year=2004 |location=Hong Kong}}</ref> She was awarded the title of the "Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China" in 1981 before her death.<ref name=":0" />

== Early life and education == Soong Ching-ling was born in Shanghai, China on 27 January 1893, though the exact location of her birth remains debated.{{efn|In 1985, Ni Jishi, a cousin of Soong, led a group of researchers to the Soong family residence at 628C Youheng Road in Hongkou, claiming it to be her birthplace, despite the building being constructed in 1912. Her sister Mei-ling also suggested that Hongkou was the likely location, though their parents had never explicitly told her. Soong had once told her live-in nannies that she was born on Nanshi Tiangua Street. However, the nannies were unable to locate this place in Nanshi. The Cultural Bureau of Chuansha County suggested that the confusion arose because her nannies misunderstood Soong's Shanghainese accent. They proposed that Soong was actually referring to Nanshidi Guo Street in Chuansha.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite web |title=宋庆龄上海出生地解谜 |url=http://news.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper148/20031209/class014800023/hwz1054925.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090751/http://news.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper148/20031209/class014800023/hwz1054925.htm |archive-date=2016-03-04 |accessdate=2017-06-04 |website=News.eastday.com}}</ref><ref name = "chuansha">{{cite journal |author=李嘉龍 |title=宋耀如一家早期在滬未去川沙--再析宋庆龄誕生地"川沙說" |url=http://www.shtong.gov.cn/newsite/node2/node70393/node70403/node72471/node72474/userobject1ai80956.html |journal=《上海志鑑》 |date=2001 |issue=1 |archive-date=16 September 2022 |access-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220916140954/https://www.shtong.gov.cn/newsite/node2/node70393/node70403/node72471/node72474/userobject1ai80956.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=宋庆龄诞生地问题及史料辨析 |url=https://www.shsoongching-ling.com/news_xsdt_detail/list89.html |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling |publisher=Shanghai Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching Ling Cultural Relics Management Committee |place=Shanghai}}</ref> Her father, Charlie Soong, was a businessman and missionary originally from Wenchang, Hainan.<ref name="chuansha" /> Influenced by his uncle, who ran a grocery store in the United States, Charlie became enamoured with America when he was young.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Salisbury |first=Harrison E. |date=June 3, 1972 |title=Dinner With Mrs. Sun Yat‐sen in Old Peking |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/03/archives/dinner-with-mrs-sun-yatsen-in-old-peking.html |work=New York Times}}</ref> He was converted into Christianity in Wilmington, North Carolina in November 1880 and returned to China for missionary works in 1886.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Brannon |first=Barbara A. |date=1997 |title=China's Soong Sisters at Wesleyan |url=https://www.wesleyancollege.edu/about/history/soongsisters.cfm |journal=Wesleyan Magazine}}</ref> 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.<ref name="'倪桂珍余姚">{{cite web |date=2010-10-20 |title="宋家王朝"的余姚巾帼倪桂珍 |url=http://cul.cn.yahoo.com/ypen/20101020/55137.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115120137/http://cul.cn.yahoo.com/ypen/20101020/55137.html |archivedate=2013-01-15 |accessdate=2011-12-29 |website=Yahoo China |publisher= |language=zh-hans}}</ref> Married in 1890,<ref name=":4" /> the couple initially engaged in missionary work and business in Kunshan, later continuing their missionary efforts in Chuansha.<ref name="'倪桂珍余姚" />

Charlie was deeply committed to education in the United States for his daughters.<ref name=":3" /> He wanted them to receive a Methodist education, so he enrolled them at McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai,{{sfn|Hahn|1941|pp=35}} where Ching-ling studied from 1904 to 1907.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=China Soong Ching Ling Foundation |title=Part 2: Dr Sun Yat-sen, Madam Soong Ching-ling and Hong Kong |url=https://exhibition.hkrf.org.hk/en/exhibition-content-ii-en/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=“Dr Sun Yat-sen, Madam Soong Ching-ling and Hong Kong” Photos Exhibition |publisher=Hong Kong Rosamond Foundation Company Limited |place=Hong Kong |language=en-US |archive-date=7 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207060138/https://exhibition.hkrf.org.hk/en/exhibition-content-ii-en/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":4" />

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 {{Ill|Wen Bingzhong|zh|溫秉忠}}, the director of the Foreign Office of the Viceroy of Liangjiang.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=David |date=2022 |title=Dr. Chi Che Wang's foreign hometown: the career path of the first Chinese woman professional scientist and her transnational migration options in early 1920s |url=http://www.sciencehistory.url.tw/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/21論述6-1115-陳達維-日久他鄉是故鄉-定稿-11-22-2022.pdf |journal=Bulletin of Association for the History of Science |language=zh |location=Taipei, Taiwan |publisher=Association for the History of Science |issue=27 |pages=138–143}}</ref> Ching-ling first attended school in Summit, New Jersey, to study Latin and French to fulfil Wesleyan's entrance requirements.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Peng |first=Juanjuan |date=2023 |title=Searching the early lives of the Soong sisters in Macon, Georgia: three Chinese overseas students in the American South |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/F79FFCB847C412A93444E2172145F070/S1479591423000049a.pdf/searching_the_early_lives_of_the_soong_sisters_in_macon_georgia_three_chinese_overseas_students_in_the_american_south.pdf |journal=International Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=777–792 |doi=10.1017/S1479591423000049 |issn=1479-5914}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":4" />

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.<ref name=":7" />

== Leftist Kuomintang ==

=== Marriage to Sun Yat-sen === thumb|Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ch'ing-ling wedding photo (1915)After graduating, Ching-ling's elder sister, Ai-ling, returned to Shanghai in 1908 and became the secretary to Sun Yat-sen.<ref name=":4" /> Sun became fascinated with Ai-ling, constantly gazing at her, although Ai-ling did not reciprocate his feelings in the same way.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|pp=53-54}} Ching-ling graduated from Wesleyan in 1913, and returned to China via Yokohama, Japan, where she met Sun.<ref name=":5" /> Ai-ling resigned in 1914 to marry H. H. Kung, passing the position on to Ching-ling,<ref name=":4" /> who admired Sun as the hero who founded the Chinese Republic.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=66}} 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.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=68}} Ching-ling was confined at home in Shanghai, during which Sun divorced with his wife Lu Mu-zhen.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=69}} thumb|Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching-ling's marriage oath (1915) Despite objections from her father,<ref name=":4" /> Ching-ling married Sun Yat-sen on 25 October 1915.<ref name=":5" /> 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.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=69}} 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.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=70}} As Ching-ling could only speak Shanghainese and English, her husband had to talk with her in English rather than Chinese.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2016-07-10 |title=沒共同方言 與妻宋慶齡講英文 - 兩岸 |url=https://www-chinatimes-com.translate.goog/newspapers/20160710000648-260514?_x_tr_sl=zh-TW&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=China Times |place=Taipei, Taiwan |language=zh-Hant}}</ref>

==== 1916–1922: Guangzhou ==== {{See also|Government of the Republic of China in Guangzhou}} Sun's political rival, Yuan Shikai, stepped down in 1916 following his short-lived attempt to restore the monarchy.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=71}} In May of the same year, Sun and Ching-ling returned to Shanghai.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Chronological Table |url=http://www.ssclf.net/ChronologicalTable |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation}}</ref> 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.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=75-76}}

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.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=78}}

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."{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=80}} During her own flight, Ching-ling suffered a miscarriage and was later informed that she would never be able to conceive again.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=82}} Ching-ling, thereafter, became respected as Madame Sun Yat-sen.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=83}}[[File:KMT 3rd Plenary Session of 2nd Central Committee.jpg|thumb|Third Plenary Session of the KMT Second Central Committee in Wuhan, March 1927. Soong Ching-ling is in the front next to her brother, T. V. Soong.]][[File:The Rosamonde.jpg|thumb|Mme. Soong Qingling and Dr. Sun Yat-sen seen here with the ''Rosamonde'' biplane; the first indigenously designed aircraft in China in which Mme. Soong would fly as a passenger with pilot ''Huang Guangrui'' at the controls.]]

==== 1923–1927: First United Front ==== {{See also|First United Front}} Ching-ling made her way to Shanghai after Sun's escape, where the couple reunited.{{Sfn|Hahn|1941|p=102}} They met Soviet envoy Adolph Joffe, who had arrived in Shanghai in January 1923. Together, Sun and Joffe issued a joint declaration in which Joffe affirmed that communism or Soviet-style governance would not be imposed on China. Additionally, the Soviet Union pledged to relinquish the special privileges in China that had been inherited from Tsarist Russia. With renewed support in Guangzhou, Sun returned to establish his base once more.{{Sfn|Hahn|1941|p=|pp=103-104}} Like her husband, Ching-ling never publicly accepted communism.{{Sfn|Hahn|1941|p=108|pp=}}

During a visit to Sun's residence in Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek encountered Ching-ling's younger sister, Mei-ling, for the first time and became enamoured with her. Subsequently, Chiang divorced his wife in Fenghua and sought Sun's counsel on pursuing Mei-ling. When Sun consulted Ching-ling on the matter, she expressed her strong disapproval. Sun then advised Chiang to wait, and Chiang obeyed.{{Sfn|Hahn|1941|p=105|pp=}}

In 1924, at the invitation of Feng Yuxiang, Sun and Ching-ling travelled to Beijing to negotiate a peace deal with the Beijing government.{{Sfn|Hahn|1941|p=108|pp=}} Sun Yat-sen fell gravely ill after arriving in Beijing on 31 December 1924.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=92}} In his final days, he recognised that Ching-ling no longer loved him, though she wept uncontrollably and insisted that she still loved him.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=92}} On 24 February 1925, Wang Jingwei, who was widely considered Sun's political heir, announced that all of Sun's belongings would be entrusted to Ching-ling and reaffirmed his commitment to the policies advocated by Soviet advisor Mikhail Borodin.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=93}} In his last moments, Sun called out “darling,” prompting Ching-ling to cry so bitterly that she fainted. Ching-ling harboured distrust toward Wang Jingwei. Shortly after, her sisters arrived from Shanghai to offer her moral support and safeguard her interests.{{Sfn|Zhang|2019|p=|pp=92}}

After Sun's death in 1925, Ching-ling was elected to the KMT Central Executive Committee. In June 1925, she actively supported the Canton–Hong Kong strike, stating, "Follow the views of Dr. Sun and act according to his actions. If he knew about this, he would be pleased." She attended key meetings of the Kuomintang, including the Third Plenum in 1927.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=China Soong Ching Ling Foundation |title=Part 3: Madam Soong Ching-ling and the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong |url=https://exhibition.hkrf.org.hk/en/exhibition-content-iii-en/# |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=“Dr Sun Yat-sen, Madam Soong Ching-ling and Hong Kong” Photos Exhibition |publisher=Hong Kong Rosamond Foundation Company Limited |place=Hong Kong |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1927, Mei-ling married Chiang, who was about to launch a purge against the CCP.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-10-11 |title=The Soong sisters: Women of influence in 20th Century China |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19910975 |access-date=2024-11-23 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

=== Kuomintang-Communist split === On 14 July 1927, following Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei's announcements severing ties with the CCP, Soong Ching-ling issued a statement condemning the KMT-CCP split. She declared her intention to withdraw from politics until the KMT adopted a "wiser policy." Ching-ling viewed the alliance between the KMT and CCP as a cornerstone of her late husband's vision, and its dissolution as a betrayal. Nevertheless, she harboured concerns about the Communist influence within the alliance.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=Zhu |first=Jiulin |url=https://sswgw.org.cn/wcm.files/upload/CMSsszxw/201909/201909260147034.pdf |title=Sun Yat-sen & Soong Ching Ling: Archives & Research |publisher=Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House |year=2009 |editor-last=Shanghai Sun Yat-sen Soong Ching-ling Cultural Relics Management Committee |volume=1 |location=Shanghai |language=zh |chapter=Study on Soong Ching Ling and Deng Yanda after the Great Revolution |issue=12}}</ref>

==== 1927–1928: Moscow ==== [[File:1927年宋庆龄陈友仁在莫斯科.jpg|thumb|Soong Ching-ling with Eugene Chen in Moscow, 1927.]]

Ching-ling initially travelled from Wuhan to Shanghai, uncertain about whether to leave China. On the advice of Eugene Chen, she departed for Moscow in late August, intending to persuade the Soviet leadership to reaffirm their support for the KMT within the United Front. However, upon her arrival, they were caught in the conflict between Stalin and Trotsky. Stalin opposed efforts to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek, while Trotsky criticised the KMT as reflecting petty bourgeois values that undermined the prospects for land reform. Soong Ching-ling found herself unable to fully align with either side.<ref name=":16" />

In Spring 1928, Soong Ching-ling and Eugene Chen visited Stalin at Kremlin. During the meeting, Stalin stated that they should return to China, leading the revolution, at which Ching-ling was disappointed, as she realised that Stalin was not interested in overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek.<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Yong |first=Shao |url=https://sswgw.org.cn/wcm.files/upload/CMSsszxw/201909/201909260147034.pdf |title=Sun Yat-sen & Soong Ching Ling: Archives & Research |publisher=Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House |year=2009 |editor-last=Shanghai Sun Yat-sen Soong Ching-ling Cultural Relics Management Committee |volume=1 |location=Shanghai |language=zh |chapter=Soong Ching Ling in Germany |issue=12}}</ref>

==== 1928–1931: Berlin ==== Ching-ling arrived in Berlin on 1 May 1928, with assistance from the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. She was accompanied by Deng Yanda, a leftist leader of the Kuomintang, and cared for by Zhang Ke, a researcher from the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University.<ref name=":17" />

On 26 March 1929, the 3rd National Congress of the KMT passed a resolution inviting Soong Ching-ling to Nanjing for Sun Yat-sen's burial. She departed Berlin on 6 May, travelling via Moscow and Siberia, and arrived in Nanjing on 1 June.<ref name=":17" /> Ching-ling played a significant role in his funeral arrangements, escorting the coffin of her husband Sun Yat-sen to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.<ref name=":6" />

On 21 September 1929, she departed China by ship and returned to Berlin in mid-November. While in Berlin, she witnessed widespread unemployment and hyperinflation. She avoided contact with representatives of the KMT-led government, instead engaging with European labour movements and maintaining ties with major Communist organisations, despite the rising influence of the Nazis. However, she was displeased by rumours spread about her by local Chinese students.<ref name=":17" />

In late April 1931, she received a telegram from home informing her of her mother's illness. Initially sceptical, she suspected it might be a ploy by the KMT to lure her back for their political purposes. To confirm the news, she wrote to a friend in China. She departed Berlin on 31 July 1931 to attend her mother's funeral.<ref name=":17" />

==== 1931–1937: Shanghai ==== In 1931, Ching-ling returned to China from Germany, for her mother's funeral.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=2011-05-31 |title=秘密黨員宋慶齡——宋慶齡逝世30週年緬懷 |url=https://www.waou.com.mo/2011/05/31/%E7%A7%98%E5%AF%86%E9%BB%A8%E5%93%A1%E5%AE%8B%E6%85%B6%E9%BD%A1-%E5%AE%8B%E6%85%B6%E9%BD%A1%E9%80%9D%E4%B8%9630%E9%80%B1%E5%B9%B4%E7%B7%AC%E6%87%B7/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Jornal San Wa Ou |publication-place=Macau}}</ref> She delivered the offer from Moscow to exchange Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek, for the arrested Soviet intelligence officer Jakob Rudnik.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Larin |first=Alexander |last2=Lukin |first2=Alexander |date=2021 |title=Chiang Ching-kuo's Life in the USSR and Its Possible Formation of His Worldview |url=https://presidentialcck.drnh.gov.tw/article.php?access=PATA00001/2c19ce35 |journal=Collection of President Chiang Ching-Kuo |publisher=Academia Historica}}</ref><ref name=":9" /> Chiang Kai-shek turned down this offer, although his wife Mei-ling wanted to agree.<ref name=":8" /> Ching-ling hereafter began working for Comintern.<ref name=":9" /> In May 1933, Ching-ling contacted Liao Chengzhi on behalf of Comintern to request intelligence from the CCP. In 1934, a memo of Comintern suggests that the local Soviet representative believed it was a mistake to admit her into the Communist Party, which made her lose her unique value.<ref name=":9" />

After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Chiang adopted the slogan "first internal pacification, then external resistance," contending that warlords and the CCP had to be eliminated before the invading Japanese could be opposed.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Pan |first=Yihong |title=Not Just a Man's War: Chinese Women's Memories of the War of Resistance Against Japan, 1931-45 |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |year=2025 |isbn=9780774870368}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=10}} This policy of avoiding a frontal war against Japan and prioritizing anti-communist suppression was widely unpopular and provoked nationwide protests.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spence |first1=Jonathan D. |title=The Search for Modern China |date=1990 |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=0393027082 |pages=419–422}}</ref> Soong Ching-ling was among those who criticised the Nationalist government's position, stating that its policies stifled people's resistance.<ref name=":02" />{{Reference page|page=11}}

With financial backing from the Comintern, Ching-ling maintained contact with Moscow through Agnes Smedley and Ruth Weiss. She played a key role in rescuing Communist leaders, including Chen Geng, Liao Chengzhi, and Chen Duxiu, and communicated with the CCP via her secretary Li Yun. She also provided Dong Jianwu with a special passport signed by Zhang Xueliang, enabling him to link Communist organisations in Shanghai and Shaanxi. At Mao Zedong's request, she sent doctor Ma Haide and journalist Edgar Snow to Yan'an Soviet. Few were aware that she was secretly acting as a Communist agent.<ref name=":9" />

=== Second United Front === {{See also|Second United Front|Second Sino-Japanese War}}

==== 1938–1940: Hong Kong ==== thumb|Soong Ching-ling in wartime capital Chongqing On 23 December 1937, to evade Japanese aggression, Ching-ling moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong with her secretary Li Yun.<ref name=":9" /> She published influential articles, such as ''China Unconquerable'', and penned letters appealing for global solidarity. In 1938, she founded the China Defence League in Hong Kong, aiming to garner international support for China's war effort. The organisation mobilised resources, provided humanitarian aid, and published newsletters to raise awareness globally.<ref name=":6" />

==== 1940–1945: Chongqing ==== [[File:Soong sisters and Chiang Kai-shek.jpg|thumb|Soong sisters and Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing (1942)]] The three Soong sisters made public appearances in Hong Kong in favour of relief work until 1940, when the Japanese radio stated that they would evacuate rather than join the Chinese government in Chongqing to endure the war conditions.<ref name="books.google.se">{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Lily Xiao Hong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC&q=ailing&pg=PA51 |title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women |last2=Stefanowska |first2=A. D. |last3=Wiles |first3=Sue |last4=Ho |first4=Clara Wing-chung |date=1998 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-0798-0 |language=en}}</ref> In response to this, they left for Chongqing, where they continued to appear to boost public morale touring hospitals, air-raid shelter systems and bomb sites during the war. They founded the Indusco organization to protect Chinese industry during wartime conditions, an organization in which Soong Ai-ling was most active of the sisters.<ref name="books.google.se" /><ref name=":6" />

=== Communist revolution === {{See also|Chinese Civil War|Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang}}

In September 1945, Soong Ching-ling met Mao Zedong in Chongqing.<ref name=":11" /> By December, she had left Chongqing for Shanghai, where she restructured the China Defence League into the China Welfare Institute.<ref name=":11" /> The organisation continued its support for Communist groups and their army while also engaging in charitable activities for children and social welfare.<ref name=":11" />{{sfn|Epstein|1993|p=437}} On 23 July 1946, Ching-ling issued an open letter in Shanghai, advocating for a coalition government between the KMT and the CCP and calling for the cessation of American aid to the KMT.<ref name=":11" /> In 1948, she was named honorary chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee of the KMT, a left-wing splinter group claiming to uphold Sun Yat-sen's legacy.<ref name="Britannica">[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/554623/Song-Qingling Song Qingling] at ''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref>

== People's Republic of China == [[File:Soong and Li in the Founding Ceremony.jpg|thumb|Soong Ching-ling and Li Jishen at the Founding Ceremony of the PRC (1949)]]

=== Coalition government === {{See also|1st National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|}}

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 1 October, 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,<ref>{{cite news |date=9 October 1949 |title=Mme. Sun Yat-Sen Ordered Arrested |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/420589781.html?dids=420589781:420589781&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+09%2C+1949&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Mme.+Sun+Yat-Sen+Ordered+Arrested&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104060327/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/420589781.html?dids=420589781:420589781&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+09,+1949&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Mme.+Sun+Yat-Sen+Ordered+Arrested&pqatl=google |archive-date=4 November 2012 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> but this was soon blocked by the swift military victory of the Communists. The KMT fled from mainland China to Taiwan soon after this. In the founding Proclamation of the People's Republic of China Soong was the third person, after himself, that Mao named.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mao |first=Zedong |date=1 October 1949 |title=Proclamation of the Central People's Government of the PRC |url=https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/proclamation-central-peoples-government-prc |access-date=6 April 2025 |via=Wilson Center}}</ref>

Soong was held in great esteem by the victorious Communists, who reckoned her as a link between their movement and Sun's earlier movement.<ref name="Britannica" /> After the formal establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, she became one of six vice chairs of the Central People's Government,"{{sfn|Klein|Clark|1971|p=785}} and one of several vice-chairs of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.{{sfn|Klein|Clark|1971|p=785}}

In 1950, Soong became chair 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.'' Soong intended for ''China Reconstructs'' to engage readers and intellectuals in the capitalist countries who might not be politically progressive, but who "pursued world peace."<ref name=":232">{{Cite book |last=Xu |first=Lanjun |title=Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-05722-7 |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Alexander C. |location=Cambridge |pages= |chapter=Translation and Internationalism}}</ref>{{Rp|page=80}}

In 1953, a collection of her writings, ''Struggle for New China'', was published.{{sfn|Klein|Clark|1971|p=786}} In April 1951, it was announced that she had been awarded the Stalin Peace Prize for 1950.{{sfn|Klein|Clark|1971|p=786}} She donated her Stalin Award to China Welfare Institute, which was then used to establish International Peace Maternity And Child Health Hospital in Shanghai in 1952.{{cn|date=November 2025}}

=== Vice-presidency === [[File:Soong Ching-ling welcomes Ho Chi Minh in Beijing.jpg|thumb|Song Ching-ling welcomes Ho Chi Minh to Beijing in 1956]]

==== 1950–1966: Communist government ==== 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-chair of the NPC's standing committee, chaired by Liu Shaoqi. In December of the same year, she was elected a vice-chair of the CPPCC, which became a consultative body, and replaced Liu Shaoqi as chair of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association. During this period, Soong traveled abroad several times, visiting Austria, 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.{{sfn|Klein|Clark|1971|p=786}}[[File:Mao, Soong and Deng at International Meetings of Communist and Workers.jpg|thumb|left|Mao Zedong, Soong Ching-ling and Deng Xiaoping at the 1957 International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties]][[File:Soong_Ching-ling_and_Kim_Il-sung.jpg|thumb|Soong Ching-ling with Kim Il Sung (1958)]][[File:1965-5 1965年 宋庆龄周恩来与阿尤布·汗.jpg|thumb|Soong Ching-ling with Zhou Enlai and Ayub Khan (1965)]] In April 1959, Soong again served as a Shanghai deputy at the 2nd National People's Congress. At this Congress, Mao Zedong and Zhu De stepped down as president and vice-president of the People's Republic of China. Liu Shaoqi was elected State Chairman (President), and Soong Ching-ling and Dong Biwu, a senior Communist Party 'elder', were elected Vice President of China. Soong resigned at this time from her positions as vice-chair of the CPPCC National Committee and the NPC Standing Committee.{{sfn|Klein|Clark|1971|p=786}} She was re-elected to the post of vice-chair 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.{{cn|date=November 2025}}

==== 1966–1976: Cultural Revolution ==== During the Cultural Revolution, Soong was heavily criticized by Red Guard factions, and in one incident, the marker of her parents' grave was toppled and their bodies exposed.{{sfn|Epstein|1995|p=551}} Following this incident Premier 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.{{sfn|Epstein|1995|p=550}} Mao Zedong sent his wife, Jiang Qing, to visit Soong and explain the purpose of the "Cultural Revolution." In response, Soong remarked that it should, above all, avoid harming the innocent, which embarrassed Jiang.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=《南方周末》：宋庆龄曾经怒骂江青"无耻婊子" |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2002-03-21/1451517869.html?from=wap |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=news.sina.com.cn}}</ref>

Despite Soong's support of the CCP, she was skeptical of some radical actions such as the purging of capitalists and party moderates such as Liu Shaoqi from the government.<ref name=":12">{{cite web |title=宋庆龄晚年七次书信毛泽东表示反感"文革"_盐城市纪委监委 |trans-title=Soong Ching-ling's Seven Letters to Mao Zedong in Her Later Years Expressing Her Disgust for the "Cultural Revolution" - Yancheng Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision |url=http://www.jsycjw.gov.cn/a/1zAqWJVMwo |language=zh}}</ref>{{Independent source inline|date=November 2025}} Soong wrote seven letters to criticize the Cultural Revolution Campaign and objected to the excessive violence against her colleagues and other moderates within the CCP.<ref name=":12" /> In her letters with friends, Soong called Jiang a "queen" and "shameless bitch."<ref name=":1" /> Late in the Cultural Revolution, during the 4th NPC which approved the 1975 Constitution in January 1975, Soong's term as Vice President of China ended with the abolition of that post, after which she was again appointed one of the vice-chairwomen of the NPC Standing Committee.<ref>Sheng, Yonghua. 《宋庆龄年表》''[A Chronology of Song Qingling]''. Guangdong People's Press, 2006, 2: 601.</ref>

==== 1976–1981: Final years ==== Soong Ching-ling moved to her Shichahai residence in Beijing, where she penned several articles commemorating late Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. In November 1980, she wrote to the CCP Central Committee, urging the Party to reflect on the suffering it had inflicted on the people during past political movements. She also requested that her name not be equated with the Father of the Nation Sun Yat-sen, expressing her belief that she was unworthy of such an honour.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |date=2016-05-28 |title=國家名譽主席宋慶齡入黨的曲折歷程 |url=https://www.waou.com.mo/2016/05/28/%E5%9C%8B%E5%AE%B6%E5%90%8D%E8%AD%BD%E4%B8%BB%E5%B8%AD%E5%AE%8B%E6%85%B6%E9%BD%A1%E5%85%A5%E9%BB%A8%E7%9A%84%E6%9B%B2%E6%8A%98%E6%AD%B7%E7%A8%8B/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Jornal San Wa Ou}}</ref>

== Death and funeral == In the spring of 1981, Soong Ching-ling was diagnosed with leukemia.<ref name=":13" /> Her last public appearance was on 8 May 1981, when she appeared in a wheelchair at the Great Hall of the People to accept an honorary LL.D. degree from the University of Victoria. A few days later she began running a high fever and was unable to rise again.<ref name=":20">{{Cite journal |date=1981-06-08 |title=Eternal Glory to Soong Ching Ling |url=http://www.beijingreview.com.cn/50years/1981-23.pdf |journal=Beijing Review |issue=23}}</ref>

=== Honorary presidency === {{Main|Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China}} Soong Ching-ling had wanted to join the Chinese Communist Party as early as 1957. However, when she asked Liu Shaoqi for permission to join the party, the request was turned down 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."{{sfn|Epstein|1993|p=491}}

When she fell in 1981, Wang Guangmei, the widow of Liu Shaoqi, visited her and later approached Hu Yaobang to ask if Soong could be admitted to the CCP. Hu agreed to consider the case, and Wang returned to Soong's residence to confirm her interest in joining the CCP. Soong nodded in affirmation. Wang then relayed Soong's wishes to Hu Yaobang.<ref name=":13" /> On 16 May 1981, she was admitted to the CCP and named Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China. She is the only person to ever hold this title.{{sfn|Epstein|1993|pp=616–617}} Song Renqiong and Liao Chengzhi visited Soong in the hospital and informed her of the Politburo's decision, first in Chinese and then in English for confirmation.<ref>{{cite book |author=宋任穷 |title=宋任穷回忆录（续集） |publisher=解放军出版社 |year=1996 |pages=169}}</ref>

=== Death === Before her death, more than 50 party and state leaders, along with relatives from overseas and close friends, gathered at her bedside to pay their final respects.<ref name=":15">{{Cite news |last= |date=1981-05-30 |title=Soong Ching-ling dies in Peking; Widow of Sun Yat-sen was 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/30/obituaries/soong-ching-ling-dies-in-peking-widow-of-sun-yat-sen-was-90.html |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Her family sent a telegram to Mei-ling, hoping for a reunion. Mei-ling responded, suggesting that Ching-ling be sent to New York, United States instead.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |title=宋庆龄晚年思念宋美龄：不断假设其回国接待程序 |trans-title=Soong Ching-ling missed Soong Mei-ling in her later years: she constantly imagined the reception procedures for Soong Mei-ling upon her return to China. |url=https://www.chinanews.com.cn/cul/2013/01-28/4525599.shtml |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=China News Service |language=zh}}</ref> According to Xinhua News Agency, Soong Ching-ling died from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia at 8:18&nbsp;p.m. on 29 May 1981 in Beijing. Xinhua described her death as "a great loss to the country and the people."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soong Ching Ling, honorary president of China and widow... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/05/29/Soong-Ching-Ling-honorary-president-of-China-and-widow/1280359956800/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=United Press International |language=en}}</ref> Despite invitations, Mei-ling chose to remain at home in Taiwan, reportedly due to political sensitivities. A potential family reunion in Beijing was seen as a threat to the legitimacy of her stepson, Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-kuo. Xinhua said that other family members were present at the time of Soong's death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soong Ching Ling, honorary president of China and the... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/05/29/Soong-Ching-Ling-honorary-president-of-China-and-the/7106359956800/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=United Press International |language=en}}</ref>

After she died world leaders expressed their condolences. United States President Ronald Reagan extended "the sympathy of the American people and my personal condolences," highlighting Soong Ching-ling's significant contributions as Sun Yat-sen's private secretary, political advisor, and wife, as well as their early life in the United States. Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev offered "profound condolences," a term stronger than that used upon Mao Zedong's death, acknowledging her role as honorary chair of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Loong |first=Paul |date=1981-06-01 |title=World leaders send respects to Soong Ching Ling |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/06/01/World-leaders-send-respects-to-Soong-Ching-Ling/3151360216000/ |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=United Press International |language=en}}</ref>

=== State funeral === The Chinese government declared three days of mourning, ordered flags to be lowered at Chinese embassies worldwide, and held a state funeral for Soong on 3 June.<ref name=":15" /> Again, the funeral services extended an invitation to Soong Ching-ling's family to attend the ceremony in Beijing. Although Mei-ling mourned her sister privately, she wrote to Chiang Ching-kuo, stating that despite their familial bond, she had decided not to travel to Beijing.<ref name=":14" />{{Independent source inline|date=November 2025}}

Hosted by Hu Yaobang, who was widely expected to become the next chairman of the CCP, the televised mourning ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing drew over 10,000 attendees. Notable participants included Hua Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping, and Ye Jianying. In his eulogy, Deng Xiaoping mentioned that Soong, the aunt of then-President of Taiwan Chiang Ching-kuo, had expressed hope for reunification talks between the governments of Beijing and Taipei in the near future.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sterba |first=James P. |author-link=James P. Sterba |date=June 4, 1981 |title=Soong Ching-Ling is eulogized by Deng |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/04/world/soong-ching-ling-is-eulogized-by-deng.html |work=New York Times}}</ref>

=== Resting place === {{See also|Tomb of Soong Ching-ling}} thumb|Soong family tomb in Shanghai In accordance with her wishes, Soong Ching-ling's cremated remains were interred alongside her parents in the restored Soong family burial plot at Shanghai's International Cemetery, later renamed the Soong Ching Ling Mausoleum in her honour.<ref name=":11" /> She was laid to rest beside her parents, Charlie Soong and Ni Kwei-tseng, with the names of their children—T.V. Soong, T.L. Soong, T.A. Soong, Ai-ling Soong, Ching-ling Soong, and Mei-ling Soong—engraved on the tombstone.{{cn|date=November 2025}}

== Legacy ==

=== Public image === According to French historian Bernard Brizay, Soong Ching-ling stood out from the traditional female archetype. Despite her youthful, gentle, and kind appearance, she was remarkably strong-willed, which inspired Sun Yat-sen during his lowest moments. When asked if she loved her husband, she famously replied that her love was for the Chinese Communist Revolution. After her husband's death, she could have withdrawn from politics, yet she steadfastly committed herself to fulfilling his revolutionary ideals, even in the face of death threats.<ref name=":19">{{Cite web |date=2011-10-07 |title=百年沧桑看宋庆龄早年的无畏与后期的沉默 |trans-title=A Century of Change: Soong Ching-ling's Early Fearlessness and Later Silence |url=https://www.rfi.fr/cn/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/20111008-%E7%99%BE%E5%B9%B4%E6%B2%A7%E6%A1%91%E7%9C%8B%E5%AE%8B%E5%BA%86%E9%BE%84%E6%97%A9%E5%B9%B4%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A0%E7%95%8F%E4%B8%8E%E5%90%8E%E6%9C%9F%E7%9A%84%E6%B2%89%E9%BB%98 |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=Radio France Internationale |language=zh-Hans}}</ref>

The CCP still treats Sun Yat-sen as one of the founders of their movement.<ref name="sjsu.edu">{{Cite web |title=The Guomindang (Kuomintang), the Nationalist Party of China |url=https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/guomindang.htm |website=www.sjsu.edu}}</ref> They claim descent from Sun,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Allen-Ebrahimian |first=Bethany |date=8 March 2019 |title=The Chinese Communist Party Is Still Afraid of Sun Yat-Sen's Shadow |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/08/the-chinese-communist-party-is-still-afraid-of-sun-yat-sens-shadow/}}</ref> who is viewed as a proto-communist,<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 November 2016 |title=Tug of war over China's founding father Sun Yat-sen as Communist Party celebrates his legacy |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2044782/tug-war-over-chinas-founding-father-sun-yat-sen |website=South China Morning Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=25 November 2016 |title=Which is Sun Yat-sen's heir - Communist Party or KMT? |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2048614/which-sun-yat-sens-heir-communist-party-or-kmt |website=South China Morning Post}}</ref> and the economic element of Sun's ideology was socialism.<ref name="sjsu.edu" /> Brizay noted that Soong Ching-ling did not like Mao Zedong but maintained a good relationship with Zhou Enlai. During Mao's era, Jiang Qing envied Soong's greater popularity among the people, but Soong remained silent in the face of Mao's tyranny.<ref name=":19" /> After her death, the Communist government praised her as "a great patriotic, democratic, internationalist and Communist fighter and an outstanding state leader of China,"<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":18">{{Cite journal |last=Ban |first=Yongji |date=2024-01-16 |title=“大历史观”下的宋庆龄——读《宋庆龄与中国共产党史事编年（1921—1981） |trans-title=Soong Ching-ling from a "Grand Historical Perspective"—Reading "A Chronological Record of Soong Ching-ling and the Chinese Communist Party (1921-1981)" |url=http://paper.people.com.cn/rmzk/html/2024-01/16/content_26039195.htm |journal=People's Daily |language=zh |issue=22 |pages=12}}</ref> and also "a seasoned pioneer in the defence of world peace, and an exemplary member of the Chinese Communist Party."<ref name=":18" />{{Efn|{{lang-zh|s=宋庆龄是爱国主义、民主主义、国际主义和共产主义的伟大战士，杰出的国际社会活动家，保卫世界和平久经考验的前驱，中国共产党的优秀党员。}}}}

In Taiwan, it was until 1965 when there was the first biography in Taiwan to mention Soong Ching-ling as the wife of Sun Yat-sen.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lü |first=Fang-Shang |title=欲掩彌彰：中國歷史文化中的「私」與「情」 |publisher=National Central Library |isbn=9789576784675 |volume=Justice |location=Taipei, Taiwan |trans-title=Backpedalled: "Privacy" and "Emotion" in Chinese History and Culture |chapter=Love is Brief but Glory Endures: Gender and Revolution during the Revolution of 1911 |doi=10.29530/gongyi.200309.0373 |chapter-url=https://teric.naer.edu.tw/wSite/PDFReader?xmlId=1895082&fileName=1480541057741&format=pdf}}</ref> The majority of people, except for those who had fled from the mainland, were unaware of Soong Ching-ling until the lifting of martial law in 1987, despite the widespread personality cult surrounding Sun Yat-sen. During the period of time, textbooks in Taiwan referred to Sun's wife as Lu Muzhen.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-02-22 |title=台灣觀察：向「國父」孫中山鞠躬致敬的日子 |trans-title=Taiwan Observation: A Day to Bow in Respect to Sun Yat-sen, the "Father of the Nation" |url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/china/2016/02/160222_sun_taiwan |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=BBC News |language=zh-Hant}}</ref> Soong Mei-ling criticised her sister Ching-ling for "being disloyal to her country, lacking benevolence to the people, failing to fulfil filial piety to her parents, showing infidelity in her marriage, neglecting righteousness to her relatives and friends, disregarding greater justice, showing no reverence for heaven and earth, offering no remonstrance to tyrants, and failing to pacify citizens".{{efn|{{lang-zh|s=二姐生性好强，一生每逢大事必糊涂，最终于国未尽忠，于民不称仁，于父母未尽孝，于夫妻未尽节，于亲朋未尽义，于大义未尽思，于天地无一敬，于暴君未尽谏，于凶民未尽抚。可不悲哉！}}}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chen |first=Juteng |date=2016-09-30 |title=评中国国母宋庆龄 |url=https://www.sinchew.com.my/20160930/%E9%99%88%E9%A9%B9%E8%85%BE%EF%BC%8E%E8%AF%84%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%9B%BD%E6%AF%8D%E5%AE%8B%E5%BA%86%E9%BE%84/ |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=Sin Chew Daily |publisher=Sin Chew Media Corporation Berhad |place=Petaling Jaya, Malaysia |language=en}}</ref>

=== Former residence === {{Unreferenced section|date=November 2025}}thumb|Former Residence of Soong Ching-ling in Beijing thumb|Soong Ching-ling Memorial Residence in Shanghai Several of Soong Ch'ing-ling's former residences have also been transformed into museums:

* In 1918, Soong and her husband Sun Yat-sen lived in a house in the French Concession of Shanghai. After her husband's death, Soong continued to reside there until 1937. The house has now been converted into a museum dedicated called the Former Residence of Sun Yat-sen. Though dedicated primarily to Sun, it also contains some of Soong's artefacts during their life together. * From 1948 to 1963 Soong Ching-ling lived in the western end of the French Concession in Shanghai. This building is now the Soong Ching-ling Memorial Residence. A memorial hall containing some of her belongings and photographs stands near the entrance. The main building and gardens are preserved in near original state with original furnishings throughout. In the garage are two large cars: one Chinese built Hongqi CA770 limousine and another Russian car presented to Soong by Joseph Stalin. * 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. The rooms and furniture have been kept as she had used them, and memorabilia are displayed.

=== Charitable organisations === {{Main|China Soong Ching Ling Foundation}}

thumb|Soong Ching-Ling Science and Technology Museum for Children In 1982, the Chinese government founded the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, to unite charitable organisations under Soong across China.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 May 2022 |title=薪火相传向未来——中国宋庆龄基金会40年事业发展亮点特色扫描 |trans-title=Passing the torch to the future - a scan of the highlights and highlights of China Soong Ching Ling Foundation's 40-year career development |url=http://www.news.cn/politics/2022-05/29/c_1128694224.htm |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512215452/http://www.news.cn/politics/2022-05/29/c_1128694224.htm |archivedate=12 May 2024 |access-date=12 May 2024 |work=Xinhua News Agency}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Globalclassroom .::. UCLA International Institute |url=https://www.international.ucla.edu/institute/globalclassroom/shanghai |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=www.international.ucla.edu}}</ref>

==Awards and recognition== === Honours === * {{Flagicon|China|1928}} China ** 50px First Class Order of Propitious Clouds (1944)<ref>{{Cite web |title=1944年1月1日国民政府授予宋庆龄的一等卿云勋章 |url=https://sswgw.org.cn/wwdc/sqlww/7906.htm |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=sswgw.org.cn}}</ref> ** 50px China War Memorial Medal (1945)<ref>{{Cite web |title=1945年国民政府授予宋庆龄的抗战胜利勋章 |url=https://sswgw.org.cn/wwdc/sqlww/5871.htm |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=sswgw.org.cn}}</ref> * {{Flag|Cambodia}} ** 50px Knight Grand Cross (1964)<ref>{{Cite web |title=1964年柬埔寨国家元首西哈努克亲王赠送给宋庆龄的"一级柬埔寨王家勋章" |url=https://sswgw.org.cn/wwdc/sqlww/6487.htm |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=sswgw.org.cn}}</ref>

=== Awards ===

* {{Flag|Soviet Union}} ** International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples (1950)<ref>{{Cite web |title=宋庆龄接受"巩固国际和平"斯大林国际奖金时的留影 |url=https://sswgw.org.cn/wwdc/sqlww/7169.htm |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=sswgw.org.cn}}</ref>

=== Honorary titles ===

* {{flagicon image|Comintern Logo.svg}} Communist International ** Honorary Chairman of the League Against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression (1927 in Belgium, 1929 in Germany)<ref name=":21">{{Cite web |title=广东省宋庆龄基金会——宋庆龄大事年表 |url=http://www.gdsclf.org/zoujin/SPJS/200709/137.html |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=www.gdsclf.org}}</ref> * {{Flag|China|1949}} ** Honorary Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (1948)<ref name=":21" /> ** Honorary Chairman of the All-China Women's Federation (1949, 1953, 1957, 1975)<ref name=":21" /> ** Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China (1981)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-11 |title=0047 - Soong Ching Ling, Honorary Chairman Of People's Republic Of China |url=https://archive.sacu.org/archive/photo-cards/box-a/a05/1964364-0047-soong-ching-ling-honorary-chairman-of-peoples-republic-of-china-iback? |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding |language=en}}</ref>

=== Honorary degrees ===

* {{Flag|United States}} ** Honorary LL.D. from Wesleyan College (1943)<ref name=":4" /> *{{Flag|Pakistan}} **Honorary LL.D. from the University of Dhaka (1956)<ref name=":21" /> * {{Flag|Canada}} ** Honorary LL.D. from the University of Victoria (1981)<ref name=":20" />

== In popular culture == === Films === Five years after her death, the Honorary President of the People's Republic of China was depicted in the film Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Soong is played by Maggie Cheung in the 1997 Hong Kong movie ''The Soong Sisters''. Since the turn of the Millennium, she has been portrayed by various actresses in several mainland China historical drama movies.

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Film |- ! Year !! | Actress !! Title |- |1986 |Zhang Yan |Dr. Sun Yat-sen |- |1997 |Maggie Cheung |The Soong Sisters |- |2009 |Xu Qing |The Founding of a Republic<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pao |first=Chwen-Liang |date=2009 |title="The Founding of a Republic"- the Memorial Current |url=https://www.mjib.gov.tw/FileUploads/eBooks/4e3103b3b27641e9bf01e59851602e05/Section_file/595053e688d04cfab516cf89bb0b5d91.pdf |journal=Prospect & Exploration |language=zh |location=Taipei, Taiwan |publisher=Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau |volume=7 |issue=11 |pages=11–17}}</ref> |- | rowspan="2" | 2011 |Dong Jie |The Founding of a Party |- |Jiang Wenli |1911 |- |2012 |Luo Yang |Back to 1942 |- |2015 |Joan Chen |Cairo Declaration |- |2017 |Song Jia |The Founding of an Army |- |2019 |Qin Lan |Mao Zedong 1949 |- |2021 |Liu Shishi |1921 |}

=== Opera === Soong is a main character in Huang Ruo's 2011 Chinese-language western-style opera, Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

== Family == {{Further|Soong sisters|Four big families of the Republic of China}}

{{Soong sisters family tree}}

== See also == {{Portal|Republic of China|China|Biography}} * History of the Republic of China * Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang ** He Xiangning (wife of Liao Zhongkai) * Soong sisters ** Soong Ai-ling ** Soong Mei-ling * Soong Ching-ling Children's Literature Prize * Women in Chinese government

== Notes == {{notelist}} *

== References == === Citations === {{Reflist}}

=== Sources === * {{cite book |last1 = Chang |first1 = Jung |last2 = Halliday |first2 = Jon |title = Madame Sun Yat-Sen: Soong Ching-Ling |location = London, England |publisher = Penguin |year = 1986 |isbn = 0-14-008455-X }} * {{cite book |last=Epstein |first=Israel |author-link=Israel Epstein |title=Woman in World History: The Life and Times of Soong Ching-ling |location=Beijing |language=en |publisher=New World Press |year=1995 |isbn=7-80005-283-4}} * {{cite book |last=Hahn |first=Emily |author-link=Emily Hahn |title=The Soong Sisters |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.86636 |edition=e-book |location=New York, NY |publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Co. |others=Reprinted in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. |year=1941 |isbn=978-1-4976-1953-1}} * {{cite book |last1 = Klein |first1 = Donald W. |last2 = Clark |first2 = Anne B. |title = Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921–1965 |volume = 2 |location = Cambridge, MA |publisher = Harvard University Press |year = 1971 |isbn = 0-552-14108-9 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_0552141089 }} * {{cite book |last = Seagrave |first = Sterling |author-link = Sterling Seagrave |title = The Soong Dynasty |url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_0552141089 |url-access = registration |location = London, England |publisher = Corgi Books |year = 1985 |isbn = 0-552-14108-9 }} * {{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Rong |title=Big sister, little sister, red sister: three women at the heart of twentieth-century China |date=2019 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=978-0-451-49351-4 |location=New York}}

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline}} * [http://www.sclf.org/ Soong Ching-ling Foundation] * [http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/beijing/31048.htm Former Residence of Song Qingling, Beijing] * [http://www.shsoong-chingling.com Memorial Residence, Shanghai] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715090714/http://www.shsoong-chingling.com/ |date=15 July 2019 }}

{{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl|title=Vice Chairperson of the Central People's Government|years=1949–1954|alongside=Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Gao Gang}} {{s-aft|after=Zhu De|as=Vice Chairman of the PRC}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=Zhu De}} {{s-ttl|title=Vice Chairperson of the People's Republic of China|alongside=Dong Biwu|years=1959–1975}} {{s-vac|next=Ulanhu}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=Liu Shaoqi|as=Chairman of the PRC}} {{s-ttl|title=Acting Head of State of the People's Republic of China<br />{{small|Co-Acting with Dong Biwu as Vice Chairpersons of the PRC}}|years=1968–1972}} {{s-aft|after=Dong Biwu|as=Acting Chairman of the PRC}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=Zhu De|as=Chairman of the 4th NPCSC}} {{s-ttl|title=Acting Head of State of the People's Republic of China<br />{{small|As acting Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the 4th National People's Congress}}|years=1976–1978}} {{s-aft|after=Ye Jianying|as=Chairman of the 5th NPCSC}} {{s-break}} {{s-hon}} {{s-new|rows=2}} {{s-ttl|title=Honorary Chair of the All-China Women's Federation|alongside=He Xiangning, Cai Chang, Deng Yingchao|years=1949–1981}} {{s-aft|after=Kang Keqing}} {{s-break}} {{s-ttl|title=Honorary President of the People's Republic of China|years=1981}} {{s-vac}} {{s-end}}

{{Presidents of the People's Republic of China}} {{Vice Presidents of the People's Republic of China}} {{SCNPCHeads}} {{NPCSC Vice-Chairpersons}} {{CPPCC Vice-Chairpersons}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soong, Ching-ling}} Category:Soong Ching-ling Category:1890 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Presidents of China Category:Chinese Methodists Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanghai Category:Female heads of state Category:Republic of China politicians from Shanghai Category:Members of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang Category:Stalin Peace Prize recipients Category:Family of Sun Yat-sen Category:Vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress Category:Vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Category:Vice presidents of China Category:Wesleyan College alumni Category:20th-century Chinese politicians Category:20th-century Chinese women politicians Category:Burials at the Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling Category:Women vice presidents in Asia Category:All-China Women's Federation people Category:Deaths from leukemia in China Category:Secretaries to Sun Yat-sen Category:Chinese women in World War II Category:First women presidents Category:Women presidents in Asia Category:20th-century women presidents Category:Recipients of the Order of Propitious Clouds Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia