Song Qingling and her nanny

Song Ailing came to the United States from Shanghai and began her study abroad journey. However, Song Ailing's study in the United States was very relaxed and enjoyable. Wesleyan Women's College, where Soong Ailing studied, is located in Macon, Georgia, on the west bank of the Okmulgee River. The city is lush with trees and quiet and elegant. Wesleyan Female College was founded in 1836 as Georgia Female College. Wesleyan Female College, renamed in 1843, is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. At the beginning, the college was small, with only one main building, and naturally there were not many students. Their students are generally girls from wealthy families in South America. Supporting buildings were added later. At the beginning of the 20th century, the main building was changed from the Greek Revival architectural style to a gorgeous Victorian building, and a double-story sloped roof was added, making it "the most perfect building for educational housing." The student dormitories are on the top floor and are comfortably equipped with large washrooms and locker rooms. There is also a bathroom on each floor with a bidet and porcelain toilet. In 1900, the college built an annex to provide accommodation for newly admitted boarding students. The quiet and comfortable environment on campus provides good learning and living conditions for the girls who come to study here. Song Yaoru's three daughters: Song Ailing, Song Qingling and Song Meiling, all studied at Wesleyan Women's College. Later, this women's college also became famous for training the three Song sisters.

Song Ailing initially studied in the "preparatory class" in the college. Like her future husband Kong Xiangxi, she was also the first Chinese student here. At the beginning, people looked at her with curiosity and treated her with an indescribable complex psychology. Song Ailing can speak fluent English, but at first she was reserved, reclusive and unsmiling. It was as if she was the only one among the students in the school who understood that a person's true value does not lie in her clothing or appearance but in her knowledge. When she had nothing to do, Song Ailing would stand aside to admire and study other students' American clothes. Song Ailing was able to calculate how much property each classmate's father owned from a person's clothing. Of course, this inference was all thought out in her mind. Song Ailing's classmates all regarded her calmness and reservedness as shyness, and they all thought that this short, round-faced Chinese girl would not pose any threat to them.

However, Song Ailing's academic performance was extremely outstanding, especially in mathematics, which was beyond the reach of all her classmates.

Slowly, the students discovered that this Chinese girl who looked very solemn and serious was actually very frank and friendly, enthusiastic, cheerful, easy to get close to, and also very good at music and performance. Have talent. As a result, Song Ailing became a "hot" figure that students liked to talk about.

Since the students discovered the true character of this Chinese girl, they are willing to gather around her in their free time, or squeeze into her dormitory with great interest to listen to Song Ailing's sweet words. The voice tells the distant and mysterious story of the East. Song Ailing's story can never be told, and her dormitory has become a "club" for her classmates. Song Ailing's voice is sweet and resonant, and her father taught her singing at home, which gave her an absolute advantage in performance. Whenever there are school group activities or get-togethers, Song Ailing naturally becomes the eye-catching figure.

All this should be attributed to Mrs. Gerry, the wife of Dean Gerry of Wesleyan Women's College.

Mrs. Gerry is an amiable and warm-hearted woman. It was she who tried her best to make Song Ailing not feel restrained, and gradually Song Ailing developed unforgettable feelings for the Gerry couple. Song Ailing changed and became more able to adapt to the American environment. She wears all American clothes, has learned a variety of American slang, and can speak English with ease. Only one year after arriving in the United States, Soong Ailing cut off her braids and wore her hair in the popular high hairstyle.

Song Ailing's growth also benefited from her father's guidance. Song Yaoru often writes letters to his daughter, introducing her to the latest situation in Shanghai, recommending relevant Chinese history books, and encouraging her to work hard on her own. Song Ailing gained inspiration and strength from her father's letters, and made great progress in all aspects.

From an Oriental perspective, Soong Ailing is not beautiful, and her appearance often causes misunderstandings. One day, a Wesleyan professor looked her over and said that Ailing had become a "beautiful American citizen." Song Ailing was very angry after hearing this, and retorted in front of the whole class: "I am not an American citizen, but a Chinese citizen, and I am proud of being a Chinese citizen."

Song Ailing's life The era was an extremely turbulent era. At that time, China's backwardness and the United States' progress were obvious to all. Why is Lai Ailing unwilling to become an American citizen but proud of being a Chinese citizen? Perhaps it is because of her origin, her family and the influence of traditional ideas, or we can say that Song Ailing has an unchanging patriotism from beginning to end.

Because of the professor's words and the experiences she encountered when she first came to the United States, Song Ailing always held a fire in her heart. This fire will be vented when given an opportunity.

The opportunity finally came.

In January 1906, Soong Ailing's Institute of Economics gave special permission to go to the north because her uncle Wen Bingzhong came to Washington, the capital of the United States. Wen Bingzhong was sent by the Empress Dowager Cixi to lead a Qing Dynasty education inspection team to the United States to inspect American education.

How could the Empress Dowager Cixi, who had always looked down on foreigners but was very afraid of them, suddenly become more enlightened?

The vigorous Boxer Rebellion was suppressed by the Qing government in collusion with Western powers. Empress Dowager Cixi fled Xi'an with Emperor Guangxu and returned to Beijing. At this time, for some reason, Cixi changed her usual mind and suddenly shouted "reform" and seemed to really be implementing the "New Deal" nationwide.

The reason why the Empress Dowager Cixi sang "reform" was mainly to cope with domestic and foreign crises. Although the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty" alleviated the threat from abroad, she must comply with the requirements of imperialism and appear in front of the great powers with a new attitude to show them that her regime is by no means a stubborn and conservative regime. A regime that can meet the needs of the "era". At the same time, Cixi also knew that the crisis at home was getting more serious. Not only are there igniting fires lurking everywhere among the exploited and oppressed lower classes, but also some strata of the upper class, including gentry, small and medium-sized landowners, businessmen and other emerging bourgeoisie, have an unprecedented increase in their distrust of the Qing regime. . In order to alleviate this contradiction, to maintain her autocratic rule and to make people feel that the Qing regime still had hope, Empress Dowager Cixi had to shout for reforms and implement the New Deal.

Cixi's "New Deal" at that time was mainly reflected in three aspects:

First, it promoted and rewarded private capital to run industries. In September 1903, the imperial court established the Ministry of Commerce, with Zai Zhen, a member of the imperial family and aristocrat, as minister. Industry, mining, and railways were all managed by this ministry. At the same time, the "Articles of Association of Reward Companies" were proposed to allow the free development of private capital and so on. In the past, the Qing government had always tightly controlled new industries in the hands of the government. When foreign capital had deeply invaded various sectors of China's industry and mining and the government was no longer able to control it, the Qing government only encouraged private capital to join. Although this was a concession to the bourgeoisie, it was too late.

The second is to abolish the imperial examination system, set up schools, and promote studying abroad. The Qing government ordered the abolition of eight-part essays in examinations, rectification of the capital's academies, and the conversion of original academies in each province into schools. It required each provincial city to set up a university, each prefecture to set up a middle school, and each county to set up a primary school. Each province selects students to study abroad at official expense. At the same time, the legal status of Western learning was recognized.

The third is to reform the military system, abolish the old Green Camp and Fang Yong, and form a new type of army. The "new armies" of various provinces in the late Qing Dynasty were all formed at this time. In order to train new officers and soldiers, each province set up armament schools, and starting from 1904, about a hundred people were sent to Japan every year to study military affairs.

In 1905, the Empress Dowager Cixi accepted the suggestions of some ministers and actually wanted to implement a "constitutional monarchy."

In fact, this was just a ploy by the Qing Dynasty to make some concessions to the emerging bourgeoisie in order to achieve their goal of "disbanding the chaotic party."

It was against this background that Soong Ailing's uncle Wen Bingzhong led a delegation to the United States. Song Ailing immediately went to Washington to visit her uncle. After meeting Wen Bingzhong, Song Ailing was very happy. After all, this was the first time she saw relatives from her hometown after coming to the United States.

Later, Song Ailing, as a guest of Wen Bingzhong, attended the reception hosted by US President Roosevelt for the Chinese education delegation. During the dinner, Soong Ailing expressed her views to the President of the United States on her experiences when she first came to the United States, and criticized American "democracy." At that time, the US President may have been "overwhelmed" by the momentum of the Chinese girl in front of him; it is said that President Roosevelt apologized to Soong Ailing on the spot.

At that time, Song Ailing’s father Lai Yaoru was also conducting fundraising activities for the Tongmenghui in the United States. He was very excited when he learned about his daughter's performance from the local newspaper. The news also spread among the students. Song Ailing became a news figure, and everyone looked at her with envy and asked her about the situation at that time.

What makes the students envious the most is the scene where the three Song sisters gather together at Wesleyan Women's College.

After attending relevant activities in Washington, Song Ailing and her uncle Wen Bingzhong went to New York. In New York, Song Ailing reunited with her father Song Yaoru. Standing in front of her father, Song Ailing was no longer the little girl with a big braid and a face full of childishness when she left home two years ago. She has become a young and energetic girl who speaks fluent English and is fashionably dressed. Song Yaoru was filled with joy when he saw the changes that two years of independent life had brought to his daughter.

After the father and daughter separated from New York, Song Ailing returned to Macon. Song Yaoru followed Wen Bingzhong across the Hudson River to visit Miss Clara Potwin in the small town of Summit, New Jersey. An unpretentious school founded. Song Yaoru liked the atmosphere of this school very much, so he asked Miss Potwin on the spot if she would be willing to admit his daughters Soong Qingling and Soong Meiling to study here next year?

Miss Potwin readily agreed to Song Yaoru's request.

In the summer of 1907, Wen Bingzhong, who went to the United States for the second time to study education, took his nieces Soong Ching Ling and Soong Meiling and set sail on the "Manzhouli" cruise ship. The second daughter and the youngest daughter of the Song family followed in the footsteps of their eldest sister Song Ailing and embarked on a journey to study in the United States. At that time, Qingling was only 14 years old and Meiling was only 10 years old.

10-year-old Song Meiling is a very innocent and lively little girl. During the trip, one day Soong Meiling was chatting on the deck with an American girl who was returning home from Shanghai. The American girl asked her: "What kind of person do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a doctor." Song Meiling blurted out.

"Doctor! Oh, my God, I don't think you should be in that line of work. Being a doctor means amputating people's legs, you know?"

"Really? "Song Meiling was greatly surprised, "Then I don't want to be a doctor. This is too dirty!"

When they arrived on the other side of the ocean, they did not encounter the terrible experience that their eldest sister Ailing had when she entered the country. It was smooth. The land passed customs inspection in San Francisco.

Initially, the sisters Soong Ching Ling and Soong Meiling were arranged to take tutoring lessons at a private school run by Miss Clara Potwin in the small town of Summit, New Jersey. This was what Lai Yaoru said when he went to the United States last year.

Emily Downer, a student at Potwin, still remembers the scene when the Soong sisters came to school: "In our small world, this is an interesting thing, but in many places No further news was heard for a long time, so everyone forgot about it. However, when we came to school one morning, we found that the eldest one was very solemn, quiet, and about 50 years old. She was 15 years old and seemed much older than us. We were all about 9 years old at the time. Her Chinese name was Qing Ling, but for some reason we always called her 'Rosamond'... We didn't see her very often. , because due to the difference in age and personality, she will naturally not come to participate in the play and drama of our children.

However, a cute little girl named Meiling also came at the same time. She is about the same age as us, very lively and cheerful, and quite naughty. She looks like a round little butter ball doll. She is very interested in everything around her. Whether it is novel flowers, plants, trees, houses or people, she has to inquire thoroughly.

"Not long after the two girls came to Miss Potwin's school, their sister Soong Ailing came to visit them. Ailing was already a young woman in her prime. She was very kind and friendly. Her face was covered with a thick layer of powder, and her lips and cheeks were painted with vermilion. It was already 1908. We were very surprised by her appearance. We knew that Chinese girls of her age liked to dress like this. , just like older American girls like to lightly apply some powder on their faces. I can see that she is dressed up beautifully, but I remember that I was really a little girl at the time. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Meiling won’t look like this when she grows up.

“One day, Qingling and Meiling received a package from China, which was all for them. Colorful and beautiful clothes, including a beautiful black silk suit for Meiling, including a pair of black silk pants and a top embroidered with a blue dragon pattern. Meiling put on this suit of clothes and went to climb a tree, but she couldn't get up or down after climbing to the top of the tree. My brother quickly climbed up and helped her down. We all stood nervously under the tree and looked up, hoping that her beautiful clothes would not be torn. Fortunately, the clothes were not torn. ”

On September 5, 1908, Soong Ching Ling officially entered the Wesleyan Women’s College where her sister Ailing was studying. At this time, Soong Ailing was in the fourth grade.

Newly admitted Soong Ching Ling received meticulous care and care from her sister in all aspects, and her sister also helped her get familiar with the environment there as soon as possible. Soong Ching Ling was most interested in philosophy classes, had a high level of literature and was enthusiastic about social activities, so she served as the editor-in-chief of the school magazine "Wesleyan" "Literary editor of "Wesleyan" and communications officer of Harris Literary Society

While studying at Wesleyan Women's College, Soong Ching Ling published "Four Little Dots" and "Grandma" in "Wesleyan". ", "Modern Chinese Women" and "The Influence of Foreign-Educated Students on China" etc. These articles promote the ideas of bourgeois democracy and freedom, and express her strong desire to pursue truth.

Song Qingling spent the most important period of her youth in the United States. It was her studies while studying abroad that made Soong Qingling grow from an innocent girl to a mature and plump girl, and her patriotism also became increasingly strong. In 1909, when Song Meiling was 12 years old, she was admitted to Wesleyan Women's College. At this time, the three sisters of the Song family were reunited. , can not be a formal student for a while. She has also received meticulous care from her eldest sister.

Meiling has admired her eldest sister since she was a child, and she was the youngest among the sisters. Whenever her young heart is hurt and she cries sadly, her eldest sister Ailing will gently come over to comfort her and wipe away her tears and nose.

At this time, Meiling is still the same. She asked with sobs: "Sister, do you think I can grow up? ”

“Yes! You will definitely grow up to be an adult! "The affirmative words of the eldest sister Ai Ling gave little Meiling great encouragement. Since childhood, Meiling has developed a heroic admiration for her eldest sister, and later gradually transformed into a deep love. It can be said that this kind of love is the most important thing in Soong Meiling's life.

Soon, Song Meiling and two other American girls about her age formed an informal class, imitating the sorority organized by the older sisters. An organization called "Three Little Guys". In order to have a conference room for their organization, they promoted the membership of the dean to the organization and were allowed to use an empty room on the top floor of the large music room. Soon, many teachers in the school. They all became their loyal members. In order to improve the "three little guys", they also formulated passwords, secret codes and organizational rules. For example, chewing gum is not allowed during meetings in the conference room.

Most teachers did not notice this rule and always walked into the conference room chewing gum with relish, so the three little guys immediately shouted in protest.

They also founded a newspaper, with Meiling as the literary editor and the other two girls as art editors and reporters. The newspaper was copied and issued 5 times a day, but the content of each copy was different, and the price was 5 cents each.

The newspaper has unique content and is very popular among students. It is sold out every day. For example, one of the social columns commented: "Dorothy Dill is the smartest girl in the school!"

This newspaper was sold to Dorothy Dill.

Another newspaper wrote in the same column: "All the girls on campus say that Patty Brown is beautiful. Yesterday, someone saw her..."

This The newspaper was sold to Patty Brown.

Three little girls earn 25 cents every day through hard work. They used the money to buy ice cream, peanuts and candies, and then had a delicious meal.

Three little girls became famous for running newspapers. One day, they received a letter from students at an eastern university saying that they had heard about this unique newspaper and wanted to get a copy so that it could serve as a record for the youngest editor in the United States. The three little girls were so happy to receive such respect.

A little girl said: "Let's send them a copy quickly."

"No," Xiao Meiling had a profound insight, "They don't have the 5-cent newspaper attached. Come with coins. If we give them so cheaply, wouldn’t our newspapers be too worthless?”

“Yes, we must ask them to send money,” said another little girl.

So, they wrote a letter written by literary editor Soong Meiling and sent it to point out the serious omission of not attaching a subscription fee. It cost them 2 cents to send the letter. They waited patiently for news.

Soon, the newspaper requester in the east sent a 5-cent coin, and then the little guys sent their newspapers. This time it cost another 2 cents for postage.

The three sisters of the Song family happily gathered at Wesleyan College. This event is worth remembering and commemorating. But the time of reunion was too short. In 1909, Soong Meiling had just entered the college gate, and her eldest sister Lai Ailing was about to graduate as a fifth-year college student and was faced with post-graduation choices.

Due to Soong Ailing's talents in music and acting, her starring role in "The Changes of College Life" made friendly fun of the college to which the Methodist Church belongs. The play was adapted by three senior students at the college based on the book by Betty Wells. One of its adapters is Song Ailing.

At the graduation ceremony, Song Ailing's performance was naturally indispensable. She first recited a line adapted from the original lyrics of Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly", and then played the role of Chocho-san, a loyal Japanese woman abandoned by the inexperienced U.S. Navy Lieutenant Pinkleton. For this performance, Song Ailing wrote a letter to her father Song Yaoru, asking him to send silk and satin to make kimonos. Song Yaoru sent his daughter a 4-foot rose-colored brocade.

Five years have passed by in a flash. In 1909, Song Ailing graduated from Wesleyan Women's College with honors. In the guest book, classmates wrote beautiful prophecies for her:

“Look at this shocking news on the front page! The wife of China’s greatest reform leader, whom the world has never heard of, is a real supporter. and strength, China has made great strides because of her vision. We now understand why she felt so humiliated when a professor at Wesleyan called her a good American citizen."

In 1910, Soong Ailing took a diploma from Wesleyan Women's College and the good wishes of her classmates to bid farewell to her two sisters who were studying in the lower grades of the same school. She wore a fashionable American costume and returned home. Arriving at my hometown in a state of flux.

Unfortunately, the students’ beautiful predictions did not come true. Later, Song Ailing did not become the wife of the "leader". Her future husband, Kong Xiangxi, was inheriting and carrying forward the Oberlin spirit in his hometown in Taigu to realize his ideal of saving the country through education and industry.

Later, Song Ailing married Kong Xiangxi and became the richest woman in China.

Song Qingling entered Shanghai's Chinese and Western Girls' School when she was 7 years old. In 1907, when she was 15 years old, she and her sister Soong Meiling went to study in the United States. She first studied English at a private school in Smit City, New Jersey, and the following year was admitted to the literature department of Wesleyan Women's College in Macon, Georgia. Soong Ching Ling was smart, studious, active in thinking, and often participated in school activities. After hearing the news of the victory of the Revolution of 1911, they enthusiastically hailed the Revolution of 1911 as "the greatest event of the twentieth century."

In 1913, Soong Ching Ling graduated from University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Full of patriotic enthusiasm and the ideal of revitalizing China, she resolutely returned to China and devoted herself to the democratic revolutionary struggle "for freedom and equality in China."

Reference material: Complete biographies of the four major families

Article structure

The full text can be divided into five paragraphs:

The first paragraph (No. 1 Natural paragraph): The ordinary Li Yan'e was buried in the same way next to Soong Ching Ling's tomb.

The second paragraph (natural paragraphs 2 to 4): Li Yan'e met Soong Ching Ling for the first time.

The third paragraph (natural paragraphs 5 to 7): Li Yan'e is devoted to Soong Ching Ling wholeheartedly.

The fourth paragraph (natural paragraphs 8 to 10): Soong Ching Ling cared deeply about Li Yan'e.

The fifth paragraph (natural paragraphs 11 and 12): Praise Soong Ching Ling for her democratic consciousness.

(You can also divide the full text into three parts, and combine paragraphs 2-10 into one large paragraph to tell the touching story of Soong Ching Ling and Sister Li being as close as sisters.)