Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady

by Laura Tyson Li

Now in paperback, Madame Chiang Kai-shek is the first biography of one of history’s most intriguing and controversial political figures. Beautiful, brilliant, and captivating, Madame Chiang Kai-shek seized unprecedented power during China’s long and violent civil war. She passionately argued against Chinese Communism in the international arena and influenced decades of Sino-American relations and modern Chinese history. Raised in one of China’s most powerful families and educated at Wellesley College, Soong Mayling went on to become wife, chief adviser, interpreter, and propagandist to Nationalist leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. She sparred with international leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and impressed Westerners and Chinese alike with her acumen, charm, and glamour. But she was also decried as a manipulative “Dragon Lady,” and despised for living in American-style splendor while Chinese citizens suffered under her husband’s brutal oppression. The result of years of extensive research in the United States and abroad, and written with access to previously classified CIA and diplomatic files, Madame Chiang Kai-shek objectively evaluates one of the most powerful and fascinating women of the twentieth century.

Genres: China, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Asia, World War II

576 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2006

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mayling Soong deserved much better. The book was readable but the author for example spends endless pages on dermatology, and every skin eruption or rash she seems to have had is mentioned, while things like the Chinese intervention in Korea, Nationalist Chinese contribution of troops to the defense of S Vietnam are ignored. The author also seems a bit "pink" coloring the supporters of the Nationalists as corrupt, fascists and supporters of the Communist "agrarian reformers" who have been revealed to have been Communist agents in our government as having possibly been influenced by their political allegiance. Only the character and personality of the subject makes this book worthwhile in spite of the treatment provided (and I don't mean by her dermatologist).

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great picture of the history of Communist China and Taiwan! Like many books that give you only one perspective, this biography of Mayling prompted as many questions as it answered. I especially liked the epilogue where Laura Tyson Li provides her own suppositions and conclusions based on the enormous amount of research and experience that went into writing this book.

[Mark Mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayling Soon, born in Shanghai 1898, lived throughout the entire 20th Century to be 105 years old and left her mark upon the world dying in 2003. As the wife of General and President Chiang Kai-Shek the darling of the East was known throughout the world as Madame Chiang Kai-Shek the First Lady of the Republic of China. Many compared her to Joan of Arc and Florence Nightingale. Did she marry for love, fame, power, patriotism and the interest of China, to spread Christianity or to seek personal wealth? It’s all a tangled web.

Her father, who studied theology at Vanderbilt University, was a Christian Methodist Missionary in China. Like her father Mayling went to America for education and in the process she also solidified her Christianity. After spending time in New Jersey she attended summer classes along the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire before heading off to Wellesley College in Massachusetts where she became a proud alumnus. In future years she would put her command of the English language to great use in world affairs. Her brothers and sisters as members of the Soon dynasty also ventured out and became influential in Chinese politics.

In 1937 Time Magazine named President and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek “Man and Wife of the Year”. As WWII unfolded they both worked closely with American officer Claire Lee Chennault the head of the “Flying Tigers” aviation force in China fighting the Japanese. In a 1942 Life Magazine article Clair Boothe Luce described Madame Chiang as the “greatest living woman” in the world.

General Chiang Kai-Shek commanded the Nationalist government fighting the Communist Chinese for control of Mainland China. After WWII the Generalissimo and his following were defeated in and forced to retreat to Formosa known today as Taiwan. One sister of Madame Chiang ended up on the opposite side politically promoting the agenda of mainland China and upon her death her body lay in state in the Great Hall for three days. A few of Madame Chiang’s views contrasted with mine, however such is history. I did enjoy her remark as to why some choose communism as way of life, stating: “There is a sucker born every minute”.

American dollars were spent to support the democratic cause, however much of the money was unaccounted for and appeared to have been confiscated by Madame Chiang and other family members. Madame Chiang was respected by many but on the other end of the spectrum she was viewed as corrupt and living a decadent lifestyle. The paradox was evident upon her death as Taiwanese flags were flown at half staff yet the Taipei Times ran an editorial “So long and good riddance”.

I recommend this book not only to historians seeking information on China and Taiwan, but also to politicians and business men and women who deal professionally with the two countries today.

[Jrs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was a cursory overview of the Kuomintang and the Chinese Revolution along with a glimpse into the life of a 105 year old woman and her family. Though it was a somewhat entertaining the book was tedious, and the recounting of such a luminous life should not have been told through the lens of her husband and China but through an objective author looking to unlock the layers of her complicated existence.

[Dove Bunnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't feel as though I got very much insight into Madame's life. The description of the world events during her period is extremely slanted (and sometimes downright vague), something that surprises me coming from an author with a background in journalism. I much prefer the style of the biography I own on the Generalissimo.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography was really well-written, very thorough, and an informative history of this time in China/Taiwan. But I had difficulty getting through the book because I found Madame Chiang Kai-shek to be so egotistical, domineering, and cluelessly classist. But I know this was my issue as I so wanted to like her, as one of the first internationally recognized women leaders.

[Alie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book gave me a background story of the early stage of ROC. It seemed that Madam Chiang had determination in making many polices. But the question is how big her role? I reckon if u wanna know bout its relation with the US u could read "Plain Speaking" written by Merle Miller.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura Tyson Li has assembled a spectacular bio. It's page turner with the authority and detail of an encyclopedia. LTL has managed to keep her opinions out of the text. It isn't until the last chapter when through an informed discussion on the Madame's possible motivations that LTL becomes subjective.

While almost every aspect of this life is intriguing, certain people and episodes stand out. I had forgotten Zhang Xueliang until he emerged in Hawaii with his wife after a 50 year house arrest. Apparently he was able to keep his pre-war fortune, or had been cared for financially; he is deemed a friend of the Madame. (Another 5 year house arrest of a physician who botches an operation of the General suggests house arrest is a common punishment for "friends" and other professionals.) Madame's war time US appeal for funds, with its cross country caravan of staff whom MCKS treats "as coolies" is certainly an episode worth a small volume. (The $800,000 she raises goes to her personal account.) While the Wendel Wilkie relationship (true or false) is intriguing, I fixed on the William H. Donald relationship, which may have been a professional friendship and refuge from her husband's authoritarianism, but her end of life treatment of him suggests something else.

There are a host of issues worthy of their own books. Perhaps these books exist. One issue is the "arrival" of 2 million mainlanders to the island of Formosa, whose 7 million citizens seemed to have some degree of prosperity under the Japanese. While the Chiangs arrive with resources, others huddle in makeshift places and cry at night. "Invasion" appears to be a better word for this arrival (particularly after 2/28), but it is certainly not portrayed as such (or allowed to be portrayed as such) by the Nationalists who felt entitled to rule and had the resources to make it so. Madame continues to object to the appointment of Taiwanese to government posts.

Another issue deserving its own book is Madame's money. Whether or not the NYC exterminators actually saw it, a closet of gold bars, is not far fetched. For maybe 30 years, Madame's "charity" received a % of all imports to Taiwan. There were several "vacation" homes in Taiwan, one built at a cost of $2 million. Then, the resources brought from the mainland to Taiwan. This money provided Madame with luxury and a large staff until her death. How large was it? How was it acquired (any from the US war assistance?) and where did it go?

MCKS can be noted for her longevity alone. There must be something Guinness-worthy about her survival despite many years in a war zone, continued medical treatments, operations including several for breast cancer, nervous afflictions, a late in life automobile accident, lifelong cigarette smoking (and potential drug abuse) and at least one assassination attempt. Any one of these factors would tend to predict an early demise, not a life of 103 years.

If you read this book, it's riveting, so be prepared to give it time. Also, the level of detail might make continuity difficult if you have to make gaps in your reading time.

[Cathie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been curious about Madame Chiang (Soong Mayling) for a long time. I once heard that she was a Christian and an anti-Communist. I recently found several biographies had been written about her and chose this one. Admittedly, I know very little of Chinese history, so I don't really know if this biography has a particular slant. It seemed to be balanced and well-researched in its coverage. It was definitely not an easy read and took me over four weeks to read just under 500 pages. Mayling's father was converted by Methodist missionaries in America and he returned to China after being ordained and appointed a missionary to China. Mayling was born about the year 1898, with two brothers and two sisters older and two brothers younger that she. Her older sister, Eling, was educated in America and when it was time for the middle sister, Ching Ling, to follow in 1907, Mayling went too. She was too young, but by 1908 she began attending classes at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, GA. She finished her Freshman year there, but once again became a Freshman at Wellesley College when she moved north to be near her brother. She was 15.

Mayling was very intentional in her life. She and Chiang Kai-shek lived united in purpose - to keep a united China free from Communism. But they were complicated and confusing. From the book: "When the Chinese people are considering the future of their country, they should know what to choose - democracy, not authoritarianism," she (Mayling) declared, blithely oblivious to the fact that the Chiang regime, first on the mainland and then on Taiwan had been anything but democratic.

At the end of 1942, Mayling returned to America for help with her life-long health issues, but also to gain the sympathy of America to the plight of China. She made many speeches - she was the first Asian and first private citizen to ever address Congress and only the second woman. But my favorite was when she returned to Wellesley. From the book: She overestimated the vocabularies of even Wellesley students when she warned: "Indehiscence and mawkish maunder will not equip us for our battle through life....Yet within these very portals is the cenote of learning."

For many years, God was still impersonal to Mayling even though she considered herself a Christian. From the book: But one day she underwent what she termed an "old-fashioned conversion." While reading the biblical story of the crucifixion, which she had pondered many times before, she claimed to have suddenly realized for the first time that Christ's suffering was for her. "I cried and cried, overcome with my own unworthiness," she wrote. It was a peculiar sensation, at once great grief and great release. I can count the times I have wept since I have grown up...for as children we were taught not to show emotion, and to abhor sentimentality." From then on she claimed to be "not only intellectually convinced but personally attached" to God.

It was interesting to see how many factors were a part of who Madame Chiang Kai-Shek was. Her family, her health, her education in America, and the whole culture of China. I was surprised to realize that she died in 2003 at the age of 105.

[AC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've given up... cried uncle! This book could have been half the length and nothing would have been lost -- which means that half the time I spent reading it was spent wondering: 'why am I doing this'. Those with more patience may have better luck.

(this book is not well written -- surprising given that the author is a successful journalist -- you can sometimes see the author's workshop peering through the prose -- and it is not a well-stocked shop. The book also has a certain gossipy tone to it, and the author's judgment certainly is not mature. I am a bit surprised, given the great blurbs on the book cover.... I'm currently reading the section on the 1930s and 40s. For a much richer treatment of this period in Chinese history, see this book, which is really superb: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...)

I am not generally a great fan of biographies... I feel that the need to approach broad historical topics from the vantage point of the individual under consideration distorts the writing -- even down to the level of the paragraph -- as writers of biography often tend to approach their topics ass-backwards, using some anecdote as a launching pad for a macro-oriented observation, whereas they should proceed from a general consideration of the topic, and then introduce the anecdote in confirmation.

That aside, this book is not too bad -- it is informative, certainly -- and reads very well.

But the author downplays some of the harsher aspects of her subject. Basically, it's a bit hard to be overly sympathetic to an author who is fundamentally sympathetic to heroines (and heroes) who are not themselves very sympathetic: http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warst...

According to Tyson Li, the Chiang - like their early school for orphaned military children - "were a mild version of the Hitler Jugend and Mussolini's Fascist Youth, with an ethos comprising a puzzling mixture of Chinese, American, Christian [i.e., of the YMCA-New Life Movement variety -- AC:], and fascist thinking - in short, very much a product of Mayling's own curious blend of experience" (89)...

... and that seems to sit fine with Tyson Li.

At any rate, I will keep reading it...

[Barb Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I prefer one temperature for cooking: High.

The gas stove gives a satisfying pop before spitting out a nasty flame that engulfs the pan in an inferno of heat.

In the interesting biography, Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China’s Eternal First Lady, by Laura Tyson Li, Madame Chiang Kai-shek lived her life like my stove, cranked up to full power and scorching a path through history. She was vain, spoiled, brilliant and tragic. Her actions showed that she would make moral compromises, underhanded deals, and turn a blind eye to basic human rights if it interfered with putting her husband back in power. She saw him as the Savior to China and would stop at nothing to make him the most powerful leader in China.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek was one of the first female ambassadors to the West and the author shows that she was a master charmer and manipulator of men in U.S. politics. Her husband, Chiang Kai-shek, is portrayed in this book as a brutal warlord who rose to power under Sun Yat-sen’s leadership. Chiang Kai-shek murdered or jailed those who opposed him and was a tyrant who only listened to his wife and later, his son.

The rise and fall of their regime and the years spent in Taiwan makes for a fascinating read. Some parts were very detailed and slow. Others read quickly.

I turn off my stove and watch the flame slowly fade away to nothing. I wonder if over time the memory of the Chiang Kai-sheks will fade in the same way.

[Michelle Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in some time. I knew little about the madame. I found this book highly informative, fascinating and thought provoking. The epilogue was excellent! One of the best I've ever read. It seems the author put a lot into this book. This allows me to look @ China through a different lens.

I've read Mao's biography and was highly appalled at the horrible acts he performed. But this is different any many ways. The madame was more of a celebrity it galls me how we are easily fooled by glamour and facades. She did an excellent job with that.

This has encouraged me to now find books on Mao's wife as well as the history of the Japanese. It seems that if the West had minded their own business IN the West that much of Asia may be ruled by Japan. It seems Japan was intent on becoming the imperialists of Asia.

[Kersti]

I read this book after traveling in China for a month and seeing some of the "landmark" places where the Revolution started. It's a fascinating book, an incredible story, but a very tough read. I stuck with it since I had just come back from China, otherwise I think I would have given up. I certainly skimmed through much of it. I completely agree with the reviewer who said the book could have been half as long. With a good "hard edit", this would be a fabulous read.

[Virginia Brace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it took me a long time to finish this biography, it was worth it. This unusual woman born in China and educated in the United State from approximately age 10 to age 20 was in the thick of all things political for about 60 years. She lived to be 105 years old and saw the world change significantly while believing that she had not also changed. I was interested to learn her part in the McCarthy Era and other developments in United States history.

[PohutukawaBlue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mademe Chiang had played rather influential role in modern Chinese history, both directly and indirectly. What amazed me is that I saw some similarity between Taiwan under dictatorship of Chiang and mainland now. OF course People in China now have much more freedom than those back in 60s,70s in Taiwan, but it seems still a long way to go before mainlanders fully embrace democracy.

[Darlene Spalding · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a gift from a friend so felt obligated to finish it, although it took me awhile to get through it. It did give me information and insight into China and their history, which I appreciated, but it was too long and so much devoted to her physical afflictions. It makes me want to know more about China and Taiwan, but not in this format.

[Karmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful review on the history of post-monarchy China and Taiwan via a vis Myling Chiang Kai-Shek. A tale of many missed opportunities as Chiang and she could have transformed China into a power 70 years ago.

[Craig Earnshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Towering historical figure, a must read to understand China's development during the 20th century.

[Nemo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me about ten days to finish it, once after I came back to HK, and reading it during breaktime of children caring. A pretty thorough from birth to death review of Mayling, and I did learn sth new about her, such as :1) she like to use very rarely used English words during her lectures and letters in the US, and even congressmen felt hard to follow what she meant. 2)she has been tortured by skin ills for several decades, 3) she loves most her nephew Jeannette Kung, 4)she doesn't get along well with her stepson.

This book has a shortcomings in that it reads really like a 流水帐 and like a collection of various newspaper clips and letters and with too many contents on her relationship with US. Obviously the author has a problem to use Chinese sources, such as how she interacted with Chinese officials (nationalist and communist).

And the epilogue is a failure, too lenghty and repetitive and still can't say it tells who Mayling really is.

[William Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Balanced Biography of A very Complex Powerful Chinese Woman

This is a thoroughly researched and documented account of an enigmatic and complex woman who shaped American perceptions of China for decades during the years of the Japanese hegemony, the rise of Chinese communism under Mao Tse Tung, the Cold War, the collapse of Soviet communism, the transformation of Taiwan ultimately into a prosperous, democratic state and the rise of mainland China to a position of superpower. Throughout her centenarian life, she played many roles, and not infrequently conflicting ones. To say that she remains a person who evokes very mixed emotions and reactions would be an understatement, but it is unquestionable that she played a major role in shaping world history in the 20th century, and, for that reason alone, this book deserves to be read by anyone who wants to have a better understanding of that period. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

[Stephen Tuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent biography of Mayling Soong. Soong was the daughter of a wealthy businessman in early twentieth century China. She studied in the United States. On returning to China she concerned herself with the betterment of the newly-established Republic of China. As the wife of President / Generalissimo / Dictator Chiang Kai-Shek she became, in large part, the face China showed the West. Her place in history is assured by how, by hook or by crook, she secured the resources for China to sustain the war with Japan. She survived into the twenty-first century, one of the great survivors of her era.


My only real criticism of the book is its title. Soong was a consequential enough figure not to need to be known by her husband.

[Marissa Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woof I am not a biography person. Mayling Soong/Chiang lived a very interesting life and this was a very compelling story, but I am just not a biography person. If you are, I recommend this!

I read this to complete prompt 18 of the Book Riot 2021 Read Harder challenge-read a book by or about a non-Western World leader.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ms Li seem to have done much research to write this biography of Mm Chiang Kai-shek, as attests the 42 pages of notes.
A good part of this biography was tedious and repetitive. Some of the 482 pages of the book (excluding notes and index) was interesting, particularly the chapters on Taiwan. Nonetheless, I feel the book could have been 382 pages shorter.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating lady and story. Much research had to have been done for this book. I learned so much I didn’t know but I found the book hard to read. The Epilogue was well written and I wish the entire book had been written in that style.

[Peter Lineham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long careful biography. It was worth getting to the epilogue which makes it very worthwhile.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 Very informative book though a bit of a slog to get through in some places, but an enjoyable read. I now understand much more about Taiwan and its relationship with the United States, so in that regard it was well worth the read.