С.В. Гульчеева 3 курс, Высшая школа управления науч. рук. ст. преп. М.С. Богославцева e-mail:
[email protected] Madame Chiang Kai-Shek And Her Role In Chinese Politics Soong Mai-Ling was a Chinese politician, wife of Chiang Kai-shek. She was the youngest of the three sisters, who played a significant role in the his- tory of China in the 20th century. She was born in the family of Charlie Soong, who was a businessman and Methodist preacher. Mai-Ling had two elder sisters, Eileen and Qingling, and three younger brothers. She studied at the Methodist missionary school McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai. In 1908, her father sent her to con- tinue the education in the United States with her elder sisters. As she was too young to go to college, she lived near the Wesleyan College for girls, where her sisters studied. In 1913 she entered the prestigious college for girls – Wellesley College, which she graduated from in 1917 in ‘English literature’ and ‘philosophy’. After the graduation she returned to Shanghai, where she worked for the Young Christian women’s Association (YWCA). She was a member of the Shanghai Commission on child labor. In 1920, Soong Mai-Ling met Chiang Kai-shek, and in 1927 she mar- ried him. The wedding took place in December 1927 in the Christian Church in Shanghai. Chiang Kai-shek did not speak English, so his wife became his chief translator and then adviser in everything that was connected with West- ern politics. As she was brought up in America, Madame Chiang Kai-shek smoothed things over in the relationships between the Generalissimo Chiang and his government and the West.