宋氏家族

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二十世纪中国极具影响力的家族。宋查理(1866~1918年)在美国受训成为传教士。他回到中国,以经营出版业致富,最初出版的书籍为《圣经》,後来他成为孙逸仙的支持者,并为其领导的国民党(参阅Nationalist Party)筹措资金。宋查理的大女儿与一位也资助国民党的实业家成婚;他的二女儿宋庆龄嫁给了孙逸仙;三女儿宋美龄则成为蒋介石的第二任妻子。宋查理的儿子宋子文开创中国的中央银行,於1920年代担任国民党政府的财政部长,1930年代则出任外交部长。1949年共产党接掌全中国,使宋氏家族宣告分裂。早先指责国民党背弃孙逸仙理想的宋庆龄,留在中国大陆,并於1981年出任中华人民共和国的名誉主席。宋美龄则伴随蒋介石到台湾,并为他到西方宣扬理念。她以蒋夫人的身份,在美国受到热烈的欢迎。曾一度被誉为世上最富有的宋子文,则移居美国。

Soong family

Influential 20th-century Chinese family. Charlie Soong (1866-1918) trained in the U.S. to become a missionary. In China he made his fortune as a publisher, initially of Bibles, and became a supporter of Sun Yat-sen, whose Nationalist Party (see Guomindang) he helped finance. His first daughter married a businessman who also provided financial support to the Nationalists; his second daughter, Soong Ch'ing-ling (Song Qingling), married Sun Yat-sen; his third daughter, Soong Mei-ling, became Chiang Kai-shek's second wife. A son, T. V. Soong, established the Central Bank of China and acted as finance minister for the Nationalist government in the 1920s and foreign minister in the 1930s. The 1949 Communist takeover divided the family: Ch'ing-ling, who had earlier denounced the Nationalists for betraying Sun Yat-sen's ideals, remained on the mainland and was named honorary chairman of the People's Republic in 1981. Mei-ling accompanied Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan and publicized his cause in the West; as Madam Chiang, she became extremely popular in the U.S. T. V. Soong, once reputed the richest man in the world, moved to the U.S.