A NATIONAL FIGURE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 6

A NATIONAL FIGURE

FIRST LADY IN CHINA MME. CHIANG KAI-SHEK Probably no other woman in the world today has been so intimately concerned in the making of history as Mme. Chiang Kai-shek, wife of China's Premier and Generalissimo. Although Mme.-Chiang persistently shuns publicity, in her own country she is accounted one of the determining factors in the shaping of China's' future, says a writer in the Sydney "Sun." Her influence is not due solely 'o her position as consort of "the strong man o£ China," though that - position has certainly given her a big opportunity, in the land where armies belong to individuals, and the owner of the strongest army automatically becomes politician, statesman, • and administrator of national and international affairs. Her brother, Mr. T. V. Soong, is a polished statesman who has represented his country in important posts both at home and abroad. Her elder sisted married Dr. Sun Yat-sen, first President and present patron saint of China. Another sister is the wife of Dr. H. H. Kung, Chinese Minister of Finance. As a member of this wealthy, cultivated, and influential Shanghai family, Miss May Ling Soong had every advantage' that life i.i a cosmopolitan modern city could offer. She was sent to study in the United States, where she took her B.A. degree at Wellesley College. She married General Chiang Kaishek in 1927, soon after her return to China. He had just triumphantly completed a military expedition against the northern war lords and been elected President of the Nanking Government. Mme. Chiang's brother, Mr. T. V. Soong, was given the portfolio of Finance. She began to act as interpreter for General Chiang in his interviews with foreigners, a task which she continues to perform, and which has earned for her the nickname of "The Generalissimo's Foreign Minister." In 1931 the Left faction of the Kuomintang Party accused President Chiang of trying to make himself dictator. He resigned the Presidency and retired to Kiangsi Province to wage war upon the Chinese Soviet. . During this campaign the then Finance Minister, Mr. T. V. Soong, found, or made, difficulties in providing the money for which Generai Chiang continually called. Whether Dr not Mme. Chiang had assisted her brother to the post of Finance Minister, it is certain that she now helped him out of it. On September 30, 1933, she flew to Nanking, where she met aer brother-in-law. Dr. Kung. MEETING COMMUNISM. On October 29, after Mme. Chiang lad made several flights to and from Hanking, Mr. Soong resigned and Dr. Kung took his post. There' can be no doubt that this :ontinuous access to the national purse during the past nine years through a sequence of brothers-in-law las done much to keep General Chiang's star from dimming. As success crowned Chiang's wars 'it was borne in upon the Generalissimo that more than military measjres were required effectively to eradi:ate the influence of Communists," writes Mme. Chiang. "He realised , ;hat he must ... give the people ; something tangible to cling to . . < Early in 1934 she began a serious study • )f rural conditions and amelioration, i She and her husband enlisted the 1 lelp of everyone who might prove ; iseful. A Christian Rural Service 1 Jnion had been instituted in Kiangsi ] >y the Rev. George W. Shepherd. Mme. ] Chiang allied herself with this work. 1 In the West, such a visit would not ' ie extraordinary; in China it is with- ( ut precedent. • Mme. Chiang's work was twofold, 'irst, she personally investigated the onditions of the people and the op-

pi-ession they suffered at the hands of their own troops. Next, she helped to inaugurate a "New Life" movement, "to elevate the people to an understanding of their duty to their villages as well as their families, and also to their nation as citizens." Mme. Chiang gives her husband all the credit for the ideas, but it is easier to believe that she was the person with sufficient detachment to see China in true perspective. Not the least valuable of her gifts to her country is just the unconscious display of generosity, of freedom from jealousy, of willingness to co-operate wholeheartedly without claiming rewards of ability to Ibok unpleasant truths in the face without becoming discouraged, which ere the aim of the New Life movement. These are rare qualifies in China.