The Soong Dynasty

Who were the Soongs? They were descendants of a Chinese runaway who grew up in America under the protection of the Methodist Church in the latter part of the nineteenth century and took the name of Charlie Soong. When Soong returned to China, he made a fortune printing and selling Western Bibles, and secretly backed the republican revolution of Sun Yat-sen against the Manchu dynasty. Of his six children, one daughter, Ching-ling, married Sun Yat-sen and later supported the Chinese Communists against the nationalist until her death in 1981. But all the other Soongs cast their lot with Chiang Kai-shek. One, May-ling married H.H. Kung, a lineal descendant of Confucius and the principal banker of nationalist China, and the eldest son, Harvard-educated T.V. Soong, became the economic wizard of Chiang's rise to power and at various times served Chiang as economic minister, foreign minister and premier. All of them, except Madame Sun Yat-sen, amassed enormous wealth while millions of Chinese starved or were killed in the long fight against Japan and the equally bitter struggle with Mao. The Soongs dominated America's policies in Asia during the Roosevelt era and for a long time after by capitalizing on the powerful support of Henry Luce, the son of a U.S. missionary in China, whose influential Time and Life magazines created the myth that the Chiangs and their supporters were democratic leaders and heroes; on the backing of the U.S. China lobby; and on their own political and public relations skills. What The Soong Dynasty does in fascinating detail is reveal for the first time the truth about this family's rise to power and wealth. It describes the long, complex struggle for control within the republican movement ultimately won by Chiang, and it includes evidence of his strong ties to Shanghai's leading gangsters, the results of a secret FBI investigation ordered by President Truman into the Soong's financial dealings, and many other facts.