也谈宋美龄

[卧看春秋负平生]

中国的这位第一夫人是赫赫有名的宋氏家族的成员，她的兄弟姐妹全都是中国现
代史册上的风云人物。父亲是一位基督教徒，托圣经的福发家致富，得以把子女
送到美国上学。宋氏兄弟姐妹聪明伶俐，在美国深得西方文化的真传，回国以后
几乎立即在中国政治生活中崭露头角。宋家第一个有作为的是天资聪颖、抱有崇
高理想的宋庆龄，她嫁给了中华民国的国父孙中山。宋美龄后来居上，嫁给了扼
杀民国的刽子手蒋介石。宋霭龄嫁给了中国的理财大师孔祥熙博士，孔曾任行政

院长，退隐后移居美国。她们的兄弟宋子文成了中国最大的富豪之一‘也曾一度
出任国民政府的行政院长。他们一家全都活跃于中国政坛，操纵战争和政治好象是他们的家常便饭。同天下所有的家庭一样，宋家成员之间也有分歧。孙夫人是
这一家的理想主义者，蒋夫人是个权力狂，孔夫人爱财如命。宋子文集其叁姐妹的大成，既是理想主义者，又野心勃勃。

宋美龄有一个方面非常象沙皇尼古拉和法王路易十四的皇后：尽管她与俄后亚历山德拉和法后玛丽・安托万内特不一样，并非在外国出生的，但是在中国人民中间她却总有点显得象一个外国人。她在美国受的教育， 完全是美国中上层妇的派头。二十年前，有一个美国记者刻 薄地把她称作“爱打扮的美国女郎“。这固然是夸张，但也有点道理。蒋夫人讲排场，爱出风头。从她身上的穿戴就可以看出她爱摆阔气的心理。她的毛皮大衣多得数不清，还有非常考究的披肩和剪裁合身的花衣服。她足蹬脚尖缕空的高跟皮鞋，手提讲究的拎包，耳朵上还挂着钻石耳坠。 雍容华贵的宋美龄还出国活动。第二次世界大战期间，她访问美国，呼吁立即援华，很有办法地博取美国国会议员们的同情。她对那些上了年纪的参议员们大灌迷魂汤，以致当时想先集中全力把欧洲战事了结再说的马歇尔将军向记者惊叹说，蒋夫人是他所见到过的最难对付的说客。一个被她迷得神魂颠倒的美国记者写道：“她那乌黑的眼珠犹如清澈见底的一汪秋水；皓齿微启，发出美妙的乐章；纤雅的双手犹如夏夜微风中婆娑的荷叶。“ 宋美龄颇有演戏的本事。在传教士面前她端庄婉静，在摄影记者面前她搔首弄姿。对于耿直爽快的史迪威将军她就开门见山，不绕圈子。她对史迪威将军封官许愿说：“我们要保举你当上将。“有一次，她对史迪成说；“你的吉星高照，很快要晋衔了。“随着岁月的流逝，宋美龄越来越扮演着中国第一夫人的角色。

外国驻华外交官称她为“王母娘娘”，或者称她“玛丽皇后“。史迪威还给她另外起了个绰号：“白雪公主”。 不过，史迪威还是很佩服宋美龄的。看来这位将军赞叹的是宋美龄这个东方躯体上竟是满脑子西方思想。 史迪威曾说；“她是一个很有手腕的聪明女人。她理解西方的观点，懂得外国人的心理。“这在一定程度上是对的。可悲的是，除了他周围一小帮人以外，她对本国人民的心理毫不懂得。 西方教育使宋美龄学到一点男人的气质。她曾对史迪威说，她但愿自己生为男子汉。她干脆、泼辣，干劲十足。她象男人一样爱掌权，但在喜欢阿阿谀奉承方面又是女人本色。她极想有所作为。史迪威认为，如果让她当国防部长，倒不失为一个好主意。 宋美龄长期侨居海外，对外国的情 况有所了解，却不了解本国的国情。

她可以学罗斯福夫妇的样子搞炉边恳谈，却学不了罗斯福夫人待人亲切、民主、
宽厚的精神，甚至也学不了她自己的姐姐孙中山夫人的品质。由于蒋介石背叛孙中山的叁民主义，孙夫人就同蒋决裂了。宋美龄虽然能在她丈夫同马歇尔将军和
罗斯福总统这样高级人士之间担任翻译，却不能在她丈夫和中国人民之间沟通思想。 某些社会心理学家应当注意到，统治中国的这对夫妇的相互结合，同中国
的两大统治阶级─地主和买办资产阶级─之间的结合具有共同之处。作为西方贸易的产物，中国工商业资产阶级从来未能割断同中国封建势力千丝万缕的联系，
甚至还同地主建立了新的联系。同样，作为西方文化产物的宋美龄也从未能同旧
中国彻底决裂，反而还同它的最高代表人物结成夫妇。这两种结合几乎是同时实
现的，这一点也不奇怪。一九二七年，中国资产阶级被自己狭隘的阶级利益蒙住
了眼睛，向支持自己的人民群众猛扑过去，背弃了自己的主义，同地主结成了联
盟。差不多也就在这个时候，宋美龄嫁给了蒋介石。 人们曾经以为银行家和实业家将同蒋介石决裂。同样，他们也预言宋美龄将在婚后一年以内同蒋介石离婚
。

但是这两起结合尽管十分勉强，很不稳定，却一直维持到了一九四九年。直到那时，城市的工商资产阶级才同农村的封建势力决裂，宋美龄也才离开蒋介石前往美国。 就象实业家同封建势力闹矛盾一样，宋美龄同蒋介石有时也闹矛盾.这不单是由于性情不合，而且也是由于利害关系和文化修养不同。 中国的银行家 和工业家远比地主有见识，同样，宋美龄也远比蒋介石有见识。银行家常向美国人诉说封建将领和满脑子封建思想的国民党人如何愚蠢，同样宋美龄有时气急败坏地跑到史迪威将军那里说：“我求过他，什么办法都不行，除非干掉他。 中国的历史性悲剧，在这对统治中国的夫妇的个性上反映了出来。旧中国的崩溃，对普通的农夫农妇都有影响，更不用说蒋介石夫妇了。他们的性格肯定受了这一伟大事件的影响，在一定程度上也受了两人结合后相互的影响：宋美龄把蒋介石拉向西方和现代，蒋介石则把宋美龄拉向东方和落后。史迪威认为宋美龄对蒋介石的影响有良好的一面。想必这是指宋美龄把蒋介石的中世纪意识克服了一些，使他思想开通一些，倾向西方一些。但是，反过来同样可以说，宋美龄对蒋介石也起了不好的影响。

由于各种相互矛盾的历史文化因素在身上起作用的结果，蒋介石的思想本来就已经够混乱的了，宋美龄想改造他，结果只是使他的思想更加混乱不堪。 如果宋美龄是在把蒋介石引上正路，为什么中国人民对她仍毫无好感呢？答案很简单。正当中国人民在为摆脱外国统治而奋斗的时候，宋美龄却学习西方的风俗习惯，甚至还信奉西方的上帝，力求维护其中国第一夫人的地位。她可能是诚心爱国的。但是，人们却看到她同中国社会上封建势力作斗争时，一般总是代表了她的兄弟宋子文和她的姐夫孔祥熙一类同外国资本勾结的实业界人士。她一旦爬上了中国专制统治的顶峰，就不想再下来了。在蒋介石被迫离开首都南京前几天，宋美龄跑到美国恳求美国总统去拯救她丈夫的政权，因为她已经无法向中国人民求情，他们也肯定是不会听她那一套的。这是她为挽救土崩瓦解的蒋家王朝所做的最后努力。它再清楚不过地说明了蒋介石政权究竟是靠谁支持、宋美龄究意又代表谁的利益。 摘自《中国震撼世界》

[卧看春秋负平生]

我分析连战本人刚好在美国却偏偏不回头去认那女尸的原因是这样的。
咱们国民党从蒋介石以下都是为自己捞钱的，否则不会先有个国民党左派留在大
陆与共产党共舞，後有个新党在台湾产生、消亡。你个宋婆自己捞够了，最後离
开台湾的时候还带了100多箱的东西走，搞得你当年的大管家宋楚瑜都不愿意出来
评论你本人，现在该我这国民党党产“当家的”捞了你能帮甚麽忙？没错，我是
碰巧人在洛杉矶，可让我掉头飞回纽约去认尸的好处是甚麽？你今年就死了能帮
我拉甚麽明年的选票吗？既然不可能我凭甚麽要来看你这死尸一眼呢？台湾公视
记录评论片《世纪宋美龄》中有当年由宋美龄介绍嫁给美国人的陈香梅就说得好
“九十、一百岁的人了，谁会去跟她聊天呢？”我看用“行尸走肉”这四个字来
形容宋美龄的晚年应该是最恰当不过的了，希望大陆相关单位应该讨回本来属於
中国历史的文物，留此腐尸在美国就可以了。我说这些“很不厚道”的话完全是
因为她及其家族对中国人民首先不厚道在先的报应！

对以故的人说叁道四的确不好，但要对中国的子孙后代有个正确的历史交代。
一个女人的诽闻，是他丈夫该管的事，咱们本不该评论
当4万万中国人流血流汗，大刀土炮对人家机枪坦克时，
你却到美国和高级军官开贴身舞大PARTY。
抗战买飞机的钱，却拿到华尔街抄股票，
吃不惯中国的早餐，却挖得惯中国慈喜太后的陵墓，
有了西安事变，就去舔苏联
有了南京大屠杀，就去舔美国
如果被封为“四大家族宠坏了的大小姐”
我到没意见，
如果被封为什麽“中国最伟大的第一夫人”
就算真正的国母宋庆玲女士不在乎，
我的反应也是---呸！！

[独]

　历史割裂了中国，政治则割裂了宋氏姐妹。中共建政后，庆龄担任中华人民共和国中央人民政府副主席；在一九八一年逝世前半个月，授予「国家名誉主席」称号，民间则径以「国母」称之。相对的，中华民国政府退守台湾，美龄仍然是外交决策的主导者；「永远的蒋夫人」在民间声誉不衰。
一九八一年庆龄之逝，中共透露曾透过关系转告在美休养的美龄；美龄保持缄默。一九九八年，海基会董事长辜振甫夫人严倬云在上海，专程前往宋氏家族墓园，代表美龄向其父母亲灵寝献花致意。
　国共斗争最激烈时宋美龄黯然离开故乡，当年的上海与六十年后的现在已大不相同。权倾一时的上海宋家，如今也只剩「宋氏家族居住纪念地」和「宋庆龄陵园」可供凭吊。
宋美龄一八九七年出生上海，近年多番查证，才证实她与大姐宋霭龄、二姐宋庆龄等三人的诞生地，在浦东川沙镇的清代民居「内史第」。位在浦东川沙镇兰芬堂七十四弄一号的「内史第」原是一座三进院落的清代江南名宅，宋家在一八九七年搬来，三姐妹和宋子文陆续出生于此，到了一九○四年，宋家才迁到虹口。
位于浦东的宋家故居在一九八八年拆除前两进，仅存的最后一进，也被一幢六层楼遮了大半部，一点都看不出名宅豪气。随着蒋宋美龄的二姐宋庆龄逝世，后人逐渐重视保护文物，象征腐败资本主义的宋家近年翻修，并命名为「宋氏家族居住纪念地」。
相较宋庆龄，宋美龄似乎早已「遗忘」，宋美龄一九二七年与蒋介石结婚时的嫁妆是一幢法式别墅，即为蒋、宋两人的寓所，蒋介石题为「爱庐」。如今位在东平路上的宋美龄故居，已成音乐学院附中校园一部分，一部分则成了餐厅。
爱庐」外墙嵌黑白黄色鹅卵石，有两层楼，二层有内阳台，铺红色平板瓦，主楼分三部分，中间券门较大，有内廊。楼前有一片大花园，但已堆了许多杂物，沿池的小树丛中有一处假山，蒋介石题写的「爱庐」两个字就刻在石上。
宋庆龄陵园管理处保管研究部副主任朱玖琳昨天获悉宋美龄过世后惋惜地表示，宋庆龄纪念馆内有许多民国史料，同样影响中国长远的宋美龄决定不写回忆录，是近代中国史的一大损失。
她说，三年多前大陆曾传出宋美龄有意返乡，上个月，宋的孙媳蒋方智怡与一名友人到宋庆龄纪念馆找资料，蒋方智怡当时告诉他们，有意为宋美龄出书。

[独]

官方肯定宋美龄抗日贡献

　　 蒋夫人宋美龄昨天在美国去世，中共涉台官员表示，宋美龄是值得尊敬的女性，尤其她始终坚持一个中国，不跟台独发生关系，大陆认可她对国家民族的贡献。

　　中共涉台官员指出，当年「西安事变」，宋美龄在情况不明的情形下，飞往西安，最后和平解决「西安事变」，促成国共二次合作。

　　宋美龄去世，会不会斩断国民党与共产党最后一丝相连关系？中共涉台官员表示，宋美龄去世，两岸都应深思，宋美龄在抗日战争中解决问题，在外交上表现卓越，借协商和平解决两岸问题。

　　中共涉台官员表示，「一笑泯恩仇」，随着时间的流逝，大陆官方对于宋美龄的看法属于「中性」，褒多贬少。

　　王玉燕北京讯/ 蒋夫人宋美龄去世，大陆中国社会科学院近代史研究所研究员杨天石表示，要全面研究中国近代史，应该充分研究宋美龄的一生。

　　杨天石说，中国近代史应记载宋美龄为中国人民在抗日战争中所做的各种贡献。

　　杨天石分析，宋美龄在抗日战争中的贡献是：一、积极投入抗日对外宣传。宋美龄出访外国，外交魅力风靡美国民众，积极争取美援；二、对中国空军的建设有重要贡献；三、在抗日战争中，宋美龄为救济、收养孤儿做了大量工作；四、在开罗会议表现出色。

媒体称女士 回避评价字眼

　　大陆媒体对刚去世的宋美龄多持正面评价，以「蒋介石的夫人」及「宋美龄女士」称呼她，特别强调她对抗日战争的贡献。

　　中共新华社以「女士」称呼宋美龄，以简历介绍她的生平及曾任职务，内容极简短，回避评价字眼。

　　大陆网路媒体对宋美龄的报导，较开放且正面。人民网以短短二十几个字的快讯，报导宋美龄去世，并以三百多字的「新闻资料」，简单介绍宋美龄生平。资料对宋美龄并无负面评价，反而称宋美龄是「蒋介石的夫人及外交助手」，支持和平解决西安事变，抗日战争时曾任航空委员会秘书长。

　　新华网在首页显著位置刊载了宋美龄去世的消息，新闻主要内容和呈现方式，大致与人民网相同，但新华网有更多相关报导，并向读者推荐「美丽与哀愁――宋美龄百年传奇」一书。

　　央视国际网站也报导宋美龄过世的消息，并刊载图文并茂的文章「跨越三个世纪的宋美龄」，文中对宋美龄当年赴美寻求抗日援助的过程和成果多所着墨。

　　大陆民众对宋美龄的去世，网友留言很多。留言说「一位了不起的女性、坚强的女性」、「向夫人致敬」、「一个时代终于结束了，祝一路走好」、「前辈们的恩恩怨怨，意义何在」，还有「我们对宋美龄女士的辞世，深感遗憾！对一位华人女性翘楚的悼念，也是对一个时代的悼念」、「一个历史的终结，所有感慨所有烦恼已随风而逝，后人自有评说。

安息吧，那个时代的最后一个伟人」。

贾庆林发唁电

　　中共全国政协主席贾庆林昨天给宋美龄亲属发出唁电，对宋美龄女士逝世，表示深切哀悼。

　　新华社昨天刊出贾庆林所发唁电，全文如下：

「宋美龄女士亲属：惊悉中国近现代史上有影响的知名人士宋美龄女士逝世，我谨代表中国人民政治协商会议全国委员会表示深切哀悼，并向你们表示诚挚慰问。」
贾庆林并发表谈话说，宋美龄女士是中国近现代史上有影响的知名人士，她曾致力于中国人民抗日战争，反对国家分裂，期盼海峡两岸和平统一、中华民族兴盛。

[bhsstudio]

驻美大使杨洁篪吊唁宋美龄 遭孔令仪婉拒

中国大陆驻美大使杨洁篪10月25日有意以代表中共国家领导人的身分，由驻纽约总领事刘碧伟陪同，一起前往蒋夫人寓所悼唁，却遭到孔令仪婉拒。

中方事后称，蒋夫人的外甥女孔令仪顾虑杨洁篪位阶太高，前往致悼将使外界有错误解读，所以改派两位领事送花到蒋夫人寓所。其实，杨洁篪以中共驻美大使的身分，特地透过管道要求前来吊唁，系因北京外交部指示，而北京外交部则是来自高层告喻。

孔令仪视蒋夫人如母，以遗孤的心情希望蒋夫人的丧礼办的肃穆、隆重，对于陈水扁政府、国民党主动表示参与治丧，都点滴在心头。同理，美国总统总统对蒋夫人的地位肯定，孔令仪认为将为蒋夫人的人生终点画上殊荣句点。但是孔令仪为什么拒绝中共领导人派代表致唁呢？

政治归属统派，但一生又反共的蒋夫人，中共对她是爱恶交加，褒中有贬。蒋夫人辞世之后，尽管中共方面称将「一笑泯恩仇」，但是身为蒋夫人晚辈的孔令仪，则不愿妄做主张，为了将蒋夫人身后事办得辉煌，而违背了蒋夫人生前的心志

[bhsstudio]

在以往，统战是中共建立对外关系，特别是对国民党工作的一个重要手段。最初，是以信仰为切入点，因为国共双方许多人在初期都有非常相近的理念和黄埔同学之谊，在这个层面上沟通比较容易产生共鸣。这种手段一直到１９４９年大陆政权易手，都非常有效。国民党政府在大陆垮台之所以那么快，与中共的统战有着密不可分的联系。

１９４９年之后到蒋宋美龄女士去世之前，中共的统战的重点是落在统一这个问题上，而切入点则是“大家都是中国人”。这一着，在中共建政初期还是颇有效的，国民党那边中招的不少。最出名的就有两个，钱学森和李宗仁。其中钱学森是从美国跑了回来，用装在脑袋里的知识使得中国成为有着强壮肌肉的世界大国，最近的神舟飞船成功载人上天，与钱学森的贡献是密不可分的。

李宗仁那可是中国近代史上的一个风云人物，此人无论在政治还是军事上，都有很高的造诣。其一手领导的桂系，在１９４９年之前是包括蒋介石在内的所有人都不敢小看的。此人曾经两度成功地将蒋介石从形式上逼退下野，第二次更是取而代之做了几天中华民国的代总统的。

不过由于新中国政府成立以来，中国党内和国内历经变化沧桑，使得原来一些有心跟大陆走到一起的“党国”人士逐渐心存疑虑。现在台湾的统派虽然坚持自己是中国人，但是你让他以这个为基础跟大陆统一，我看倒也未必。这个现实反映在当前台湾的政治上就是，如果国民党和亲民党这次夺回政权，两岸的统一反而更是遥遥无期。因为台湾的统派有坚定的理念，就是“我是中国人，国民政府是代表全中国的。”，他们还对中共极其了解，要想统战这样的人，难度比玩弄民进党那些丧家之犬高得多了。

中共从周恩来之后，统战工作后继无人，形象呆板，手段极其僵化。对台工作，既不能晓之以理（利），又不能动之以情，完全失去了周公原来创建统战工作的魅力。而从１９８５年之后，原先大陆逃台的“党国”元老也都差不多离开了人世，国民党内部的新生代又与中共缺乏共同语言。面对最近几年的台湾政局的变化，中共的统战部门无法适应新的形式，有些无所适从，搞起统战工作有些饥不择食的味道，说话不合时宜，不分场合，中间的政治企图的味道太过明显，属于捞到什么稻草的行为，以往“讲感情”的神邃不再了。然而，现实是可捞的稻草越来越少，因为人总是要老的，要死的。最明显的例子，就是张学良的去世。

现在宋美龄女士去世了，希望中共不要再犯同样的错误，乘机捞稻草，要少说多做。少说些政治空话，多讲些历史，多叙旧。要还原历史，尊重历史，这就是最好的统战。今天看到大陆社科院某个所谓的对台工作的专家又跳出来接受媒体的访问，洋洋洒洒说了一大通，统战的意味浓厚，又是属于官话套话一类的东西，令人生厌。试问，这样的蠢才成事不足败事有余，还留着干什么？

[卧看春秋负平生]

杜鲁门：他们是贼，每一个都是贼

纽约时报25日用了相当大的篇幅，以《蒋女士，中国领导人的寡妇，105岁死亡
》（原文连结自纽约时报、连结自YAHOO新闻）为题，回顾蒋宋美龄的一生非常值
得注意的事，整篇文章，从开始到结尾都不断强调一件事，就是蒋宋美龄A了美国
的钱，也清楚提及美国人对蒋宋美龄幻灭(disillusion)的过程。台湾的统派媒体
和政客只顾吹嘘蒋宋美龄如何受到美国人爱戴，而隐藏美国人後来极端厌恶蒋宋
美龄的事实，真是够了。
　因为篇幅太长，我仅就统派媒体不会提及的段落翻译出来，上下文难免不接，
翻译不好，请海涵。
　历史学家们纪录了蒋介石以残杀手腕、赢取、保有，最终失去权力的过程。後
来几年，事情变得明朗化，蒋氏家庭A了好几亿用来支援中国抗日和打共产党战争
的美援。
　虽然蒋女士在美国的公众舆论里有一种明星般的形象，法兰克福．罗斯福总统
和其它领袖们，对她和她丈夫专制和腐败的作为感到幻灭。Eleanor罗斯福女士在
一场白宫晚餐中，当问到蒋女士的中国政府如何处理煤矿工人罢工问题时，他所
获得的答案是令人感到惊恐的：蒋女士不发一语，用尖锐的指甲在她的脖子前比
了一比。
　「她可以把民主谈得很漂亮，但是，她不知道如何生活在民主政治里。」罗斯
福女士事後说。
　战争结束前夕，国民政府的官员们对政府的忠诚已消失殆尽。政府愈来愈贪婪
，甚至在财政上叛国，贪得无厌的印钞票，使得中国对美金的汇率跌到只剩好几
百万分之一。许多国民政府的军队因没有薪水而被迫乞讨，但是，美国外交官员
们发现，从美国送去中国的军事补给，有时在一抵达中国就出现在黑市上。

　即使在战争最紧张的时刻，蒋女士也经常离开她的丈夫，忽然消失在纽约几个
月，蒋帮因为太神秘而无能反驳有关他们婚姻的谣言，但是，蒋女士的自动消失
，或许也肇因於她日益恶化的皮肤状况。 　在上海时，有一天蒋女士如常地坐
着她的大型加长Limousine上街购物...(这段讲到她和毒贩头子杜月笙的恩怨)
　蒋女士很快的在华府引起风潮，她在国会强有力和热情的演说，引起了如雷的
掌声，她然後横越整个国家，出现在麦迪逊花园广场和好莱坞Bowl。
　但是，她同时却引起了美国军人对她的厌恶，尤其是她回到战时的首都重庆，
带着许多箱的皮箱，其中一个撑开来，露出了里面奢华的化妆品，私人衣物和时
髦昂贵的日用品。
　这只是国民政府正迅速的走向自我毁灭，逐渐腐败的小警讯。
　......
　其他在中国的美国官员也对国民政府偷鸡摸狗的腐败行径发出警告。美国在战
时，支援中国超过叁十亿美元，但是，大多数都是宋子文经手，宋是中国驻在华
府的财政首长。後来事实显示，宋家为了分赃这些A来的美援，搞得家庭很不愉快
。 　......
　蒋女士在1948年十月到华府来要钱打共产党，但是，美国国会才通过对中国的
十亿援助，此时，杜鲁门总统对蒋家夫妇已经非常没有耐心，给蒋家钱对於支持
国民民政府根本没有一点帮助。蒋女士从此没有再回到中国。
　蒋女士说：「我不会再向美国人要什麽了，要不是你们爱我们，要不就是你们
的心已背离了我们。」
　挫折之下，她公开的将美国政治比喻成「无耻的粗鄙无文」。美国多年来对蒋
家这样大方的支持，竟然换得这样的评价，这激怒了杜鲁门。
　「他们是贼，她们每一个人都是贼。」杜鲁门指的是国民政府的领导人，「他
们从我们送给蒋政府的上十亿美金里，偷取了将近七亿五千万美金。他们偷了这
笔钱，而且将这笔钱投资在巴西的圣保罗，以及就在这里，纽约的房地产。」

[卧看春秋负平生]

原文1
Madame Chiang Kai-shek, a Power in Husband's China and Abroad, Dies at 105
By SETH FAISON

Published: October 25, 2003


adame Chiang Kai-shek, a pivotal figure in one of the 20th century's great epics ― the struggle for control of post-imperial China waged between the Nationalists and the Communists during the Japanese invasion and the violent aftermath of World War II ― died on Thursday in Manhattan, the Foreign Ministry of Taiwan reported yesterday. She was 105.

Advertisement


Madame Chiang, a dazzling and imperious politician, wielded immense influence in Nationalist China, but she and her husband were eventually forced by the Communist victory into exile in Taiwan, where she presided as the grande dame of Nationalist politics for many years. After Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, she retreated to New York City, where she spent the rest of her life.

But her old influence overseas was matched, and perhaps exceeded, by the relentless and sophisticated lobbying effort she and her husband set up in Washington, through which they distributed uncounted millions through law firms and public relations companies to promote Taiwan's cause and maintain recognition by the American government.

During the 1950's, Madame Chiang and her husband blamed the United States for the Nationalists' loss of China, and continued to campaign for help from Washington to retake the mainland. Although that hope eventually faded, American support for Taiwan remained strong for years, delaying Washington's recognition of Beijing as the capital of China until 1979, three decades after the Communists seized power.

As a fluent English speaker, as a Christian, as a model of what many Americans hoped China to become, Madame Chiang struck a chord with American audiences as she traveled across the country, starting in the 1930's, raising money and lobbying for support of her husband's government. She seemed to many Americans to be the very symbol of the modern, educated, pro-American China they yearned to see emerge ― even as many Chinese dismissed her as a corrupt, power-hungry symbol of the past they wanted to escape.

Ultimately, that difference in perspectives was perhaps one reason that she fled an increasingly democratic Taiwan, where many people reviled her and where she felt less at home as native Taiwanese eclipsed the exiled mainlanders.

Madame Chiang was the most famous member of one of modern China's most remarkable families, the Soongs, who dominated Chinese politics and finance in the first half of the 20th century. Yet in China it was her American background and style that distinguished Soong Mei-ling; that was her maiden name, sometimes spelled May-ling.

For many Americans, her finest moment came in 1943, when she barnstormed the United States in search of support for the Nationalist cause against Japan, winning donations from countless Americans who were mesmerized by her passion, determination and striking good looks. Her address to a joint meeting of Congress electrified Washington, winning billions of dollars in aid.

She helped create American policy toward China during the war years, running the Nationalist government's propaganda operation and emerging as its most important diplomat. Yet she was also deeply involved in the endless maneuverings of her husband, who was uneasily at the helm of several shifting alliances with Chinese warlords vying for control of what was then a badly fractured nation.

A devout Christian, Madame Chiang spoke fluent English tinted with the Southern accent she acquired as a schoolgirl in Georgia, and she presented a civilized and humane image of a courageous China battling Japanese invasion and Communist subversion. Yet historians have documented the murderous path that Chiang Kai-shek led in his efforts to win, then keep, and ultimately lose power. It also became clear in later years that the Chiang family had pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid intended for the war.

Madame Chiang had a notoriously tempestuous relationship with her husband, and then with his son by a previous marriage, Chiang Ching-kuo, who became Taiwan's leader after Chiang Kai-shek's death. She had no children.

[卧看春秋负平生]

原文(二)
Her skill as a politician, alternately charming and vicious, made her a formidable presence. She made a play for Taiwan's leadership after Chiang Ching-kuo died in 1988, even though she was 90 and living in New York.

Although she suffered numerous ailments, including breast cancer, she outlived all her contemporary rivals. She was said to credit her religious faith ― she told friends she rose at dawn for an hour of prayer each day ― for her good health.

Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, who worked closely with her when he commanded American forces in China during the war, described Madame Chiang in his diary as a "clever, brainy woman."

"Direct, forceful, energetic," he wrote. "Loves power, eats up publicity and flattery, pretty weak on her history. Can turn on charm at will and knows it."

Soong Mei-ling's rise to power began when she married Chiang in an opulent ceremony in Shanghai in 1927, bringing together China's star military man with one of the nation's most illustrious families.

Her eldest sister, Soong Ai-ling, directed the family's affairs and innumerable money-making ventures with the help of her husband, H. H. Kung, a scion of one of China's wealthiest banking families.

Madame Chiang's second sister, Soong Qing-ling, was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, China's first president after the last emperor was toppled in 1911. After Sun's death, Soong Qing-ling carried his banner over into the Communist camp, causing an irreparable rupture in the family.

When the vanquished Nationalists retreated to Taiwan in 1949, Soong Qing-ling stayed behind. The Communist Party leadership called her the only true patriot in the Soong family, and appointed her honorary chairman of the People's Republic in 1980, a year before her death.

A Telling DittyToday, Chinese still remember the three sisters with a telling ditty: "One loved money, one loved power, one loved China," referring respectively to Ai-ling, Mei-ling and Qing-ling.

Madame Chiang's elder brother, T. V. Soong, often called Nationalist China's financial wizard, served at various times as finance minister, acting prime minister and foreign minister, where his primary role was raising money from America.

Although Madame Chiang developed a stellar image with the American public, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other leaders became disillusioned with her and her husband's despotic and corrupt practices. Eleanor Roosevelt was shocked at her answer when asked at a dinner at the White House how the Chinese government would handle a strike by coal miners. Madame Chiang silently drew a sharp fingernail across her neck.

"She can talk beautifully about democracy," Mrs. Roosevelt said later. "But she does not know how to live democracy."

By the end of the war, the loyalty of Nationalist officials melted away as the government grew corrupt and fiscally traitorous, printing money so aggressively that the Chinese currency fell to an exchange rate of several million yuan to the dollar. Many Nationalist soldiers were reduced to begging for food because they went unpaid, yet American diplomats discovered that military supplies sent from the United States to China sometimes appeared on the black market soon after arrival.

During the 1950's, Madame Chiang and her husband continued to campaign for help from Washington to retake the mainland, although That hope eventually faded.

In New York, Madame Chiang lived in an apartment on Gracie Square in Manhattan. In March 1999, as she turned 101, hard of hearing but still quick-witted, she told visitors that she read the Bible and The New York Times every day.

The Soong family's saga, cutting across many strands of modern Chinese history, began when Madame Chiang's father, Charlie Soong, sailed to the United States at the age of 12. Coming from a family of traders in Hainan Island in the South China Sea, Mr. Soong was taken in by Methodists in North Carolina who converted him to Christianity in hopes of sending him back to spread the word of Jesus in China.

After returning to Shanghai in 1886, Mr. Soong, a genial wheeler-dealer, passed up missionary life to start a business printing Bibles, earning a fortune. He also printed political pamphlets secretly for Sun Yat-sen, then working to overthrow China's last emperor. On Jan. 1, 1912, Sun became China's first president.

[卧看春秋负平生]

(O)

Sun lasted in office only a few months before his coalition disintegrated, and after he fled to Japan, he hired Mr. Soong's second daughter, Soong Qing-ling, as a secretary. They soon married, despite the age difference: he was 50 and she was 21.

Educated in America

Mei-ling Soong was born in Shanghai on March 5, 1898, although some references give 1897 as the year because Chinese usually consider everyone to be one year old at birth. At the age of 10, she had followed her elder sisters to the Wesleyan College for Women in Macon, Ga.

She entered Wellesley College near Boston in 1913; her brother, T. V., was enrolled at Harvard. She majored in English literature, and was remembered by her classmates as a chubby, vivacious and determined student. She graduated in 1917 and returned to Shanghai speaking English better than Chinese.

She was introduced to her future husband in 1922. By that time, she had matured into a slender beauty and taken to wearing full-length, body-hugging gowns.

Chiang Kai-shek, a severe-looking military aide to Sun who established a school for officers in southern China, may have been as attracted to the Soongs' financial and political connections as he was to their youngest daughter. His initial overtures to her were rebuffed, and after Sun's death in 1925, as Chiang took the title generalissimo and tried to succeed him as the leader of the Nationalist cause, he proposed to Sun's young widow, Soong Qing-ling. She said no.

Chiang allied himself with warlords in southern and central China and with the Soviet Union, where Stalin regarded the Nationalists as more progressive than the warlords who still controlled Beijing and northern China. Communist rebels, not yet led by Mao Zedong, felt they deserved Moscow's support. But Stalin insisted on supporting the Nationalists.

In 1927, Chiang shocked his Soviet backers by carrying out a massacre of leftists in Shanghai. Edgar Snow, the American journalist, estimated that Chiang's forces had executed more than 5,000 people.

The massacre caused a permanent rent in the Soong family. Soong Qing-ling, as Sun's widow, led a faction of Nationalists who voted to expel Chiang from all his posts. T. V. Soong resigned as finance minister, though he was later persuaded to resume his alliance with Chiang.

When Chiang renewed his interest in Soong Mei-ling in 1927, she told him that she would consent to marry only if he could win the approval of her mother, who had reservations about a man who was neither Christian nor single. Chiang had already fathered a son in a marriage that was arranged when he was only 14, and had adopted a second son and married a second wife, Chen Chieh-ru. Chiang promised to convert, and eventually sent Chen away to the United States, where she enrolled at Columbia University and earned a doctorate.

The Chiang-Soong wedding took place in Shanghai on Dec. 1, 1927. A small Christian ceremony was held at the Soong mansion on Seymour Road, followed by a political ceremony at the Majestic Hotel, beneath a portrait of Sun.

As a political partner to her husband, Madame Chiang developed what she called the New Life Movement, a series of principles for modernizing China through social discipline, courtesy and service. She engineered public hygiene campaigns and denounced traditional superstitions.

While many ordinary Chinese resisted it, the campaign was popular with foreigners, particularly with Henry Luce, the publisher of Time magazine, who was born to missionaries in China. A longtime supporter of the Chiangs, Luce named the couple "Man and Woman of the Year" in 1938.

During the war with the Japanese, Madame Chiang pushed her husband to build up the Nationalist air force, and helped hire Claire Chennault, who commanded a mercenary force of pilots that came to be known as the Flying Tigers.

During World War II, the relationship between General Stilwell, Chiang and Madame Chiang proved contentious. The general accused Chiang of hoarding resources, deliberately avoiding battle with the Japanese to spare his men to fight the Communists.

[卧看春秋负平生]

原文(4)
Madame Chiang was in the middle, sometimes interceding on General Stilwell's behalf when resisting him threatened American support. But she also plotted against the general, telling journalists that he was incompetent. She and her husband lobbied Washington to have him replaced, and he was, in 1944.

After Japan was defeated in 1945 and the civil war between Nationalists and Communists accelerated, the Communists swiftly expanded their control into the northeast.

Advertisement


The governing Nationalists received considerable American aid, but American officials in China warned of vast amounts of graft among Nationalists. More than $3 billion was appropriated to China during the war, and most of it was transmitted through T. V. Soong, who as China's foreign minister was based in Washington. It later became apparent that the Soong family suffered vicious infighting over the purloined funds.

Madame Chiang traveled to Washington again in November 1948 to plead for emergency aid for the war against the Communists. Yet Congress had recently assigned $1 billion more to China, and President Truman was impatient with the Chiangs and what had become an apparently hopeless effort to shore up the Nationalist government. Madame Chiang never returned to China.

"I can ask the American people for nothing more," she said. "It is either in your hearts to love us, or your hearts have been turned from us."

In her frustration, she publicly likened American politics to "clodhopping boorishness." Coming after years of generous American support, that irritated Truman.



"They're thieves, every damn one of them," Truman said later, referring to Nationalist leaders. "They stole $750 million out of the billions that we sent to Chiang. They stole it, and it's invested in real estate down in So Paolo and some right here in New York."

General Chiang resigned as president of Nationalist China in January 1949 and fled to Taiwan that May, taking with him a national art collection that was kept in crates in Taiwan for years as the Chiangs clung to the ever-diminishing hope that they would some day take it back to Beijing.

Over the years, Madame Chiang's health wavered, and in 1976 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy, and later, a second one.

Her Final YearsEven after she moved to permanent residence in New York, she kept her finger on the pulse of Nationalist politics. She returned to Taiwan after her stepson died in January 1988. Even though she was nearly 90, she tried to rally her old allies. But Lee Teng-hui, chosen as vice president both because he was Taiwan-born and because he was considered a pushover by fellow Nationalists, proved more adept at politics than expected, and he gradually solidified his control.

Madame Chiang lived out her final years in New York, with a pack of black-suited bodyguards who cleared the lobby of her Gracie Square apartment building every time she entered or left. She returned to Congress for one last appearance in 1995.

Until this year, Madame Chiang maintained an annual tradition of receiving a few friends at her Manhattan apartment on her birthday. But this year, she came down with pneumonia, and was was unable to do that, the local Chinese press reported.

Her last public appearance was believed to be in January 2000, when she attended an exhibition of her watercolor paintings of traditional Chinese landscapes at the Queens headquarters of the World Journal, a prominent local Chinese newspaper. She was in a wheelchair, but was reported to be in good spirits, telling people there that she was very happy that day.

[卧看春秋负平生]

虽然费了我今天半天的时间查书，翻译。但写写蒋夫人的真面目还是值得的。至於其它的帖子，我这两天忙些；诸位尽情发，我周末闲了不免要和诸位切磋讨论一下的。

[pandorlar]

人都死了，还说什么。。。。。
我一直认为，人死为大，不管怎么说，就个人人格魅力来说
我是很欣赏宋家的三姐妹的。
她们之间的姐妹情深，也很让人感动。
楼主也就是胡说八道罢了，都几十年的后代人看他们那个年代的事情。
你能知道什么？你能评价什么？你又真正懂得什么？

[卧看春秋负平生]

每个人都会盖棺论定的，你我也逃不掉。好人被人们称颂，坏人遗臭万年。君不见岳庙前三铁人？姐妹情深，您不知道罢了。作为妹妹的宋美龄根本不肯归还她大姐庆龄先夫-孙中山先生的遗物。去台湾Yahoo查查，您就知道了。胡说八道，谈不上，我是综合了中国台湾和大陆的信息才写的文章，您说我胡说八道，就破我的题。
知道的是历史，评价的客观的认识其人事，懂的是为什么只有共产党才能救中国。我大部分资料来源美国和台湾。因为好多人不信中共的历史，那我使美国的资料，好点吧。下次在讲人家胡说，自己有论据。

[卧看春秋负平生]

注意一点，咱们讨论对事不对人。

[pandorlar]

大陆官方肯定宋美龄抗日贡献

　　 蒋夫人宋美龄昨天在美国去世，中共涉台官员表示，宋美龄是值得尊敬的女性，尤其她始终坚持一个中国，不跟台独发生关系，大陆认可她对国家民族的贡献。

　　中共涉台官员指出，当年「西安事变」，宋美龄在情况不明的情形下，飞往西安，最后和平解决「西安事变」，促成国共二次合作。

　　宋美龄去世，会不会斩断国民党与共产党最后一丝相连关系？中共涉台官员表示，宋美龄去世，两岸都应深思，宋美龄在抗日战争中解决问题，在外交上表现卓越，借协商和平解决两岸问题。

　　中共涉台官员表示，「一笑泯恩仇」，随着时间的流逝，大陆官方对于宋美龄的看法属于「中性」，褒多贬少。

[卧看春秋负平生]

回答问题。现在我们只是派个人去；只不过是礼尚往来。蒋夫人的债不到阿鼻还是还不清的，