Madame Chiang Kaishek

Notable

Traits

Family

Chinese noted historic figure, the wife of Chiang Kai Shek. Intense and willful, she insisted at nine that she go with her older sister to college in America, which she did at 15. With a high IQ, she graduated in 1917. She was always interested in religion, language and math. Her sister married Sun Yat-Sen and she met Chiang when he joined Sun. As a Buddhist, she was not impressed by the military man at first, but later accepted his bid; they married 12/01/1927, 4:00 PM, Shanghai with 13,000 people celebrating the wedding. She was the perfect wife, confidant and advisor, secretary and ambassador. He became the first constitutional president of China in 1948. The Communists forced him to withdraw to Taiwan December 1949 where they lived for more than 25 years. Mme. Chiang returned to the U.S. in June 1975 where she lived quietly for the next 20 years. On October 23, 2003, she died in her sleep at her home in New York City, after having come down with a cold earlier in the week. Most media accounts gave her age at death as 105 but some gave it as 106. Link to Wikipedia biography