Madame Chiang Kai-shek living in NYC

David Patrick Columbia's Social Diary ^ | 7/29/02 | David Patrick Columbia

[NativeNewYorker]

Eleanor Roosevelt and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek talk together on the White House Lawn, February 25, 1943.

A bit of living history for a Monday morning.

[CatoRenasci]

If I recall correctly, Douglas MacArthur's widow, Jean, is still living at the Waldorf.

[Ditto]

The daughter of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen --- the "George Washington" of China. I had no idea she was still alive. What changes she has seen.

[Salman]

The Dragon Lady character in Terry and the Pirates was said to be based on Madame Chiang.

[NativeNewYorker]

MacArthur's 99-year-old widow, Jean, who has lived at the Waldorf Towers since 1952

http://www.cincinnati.com/travel/stories/suite.html

[ReaganGirl]

What a great post to open up to this morning. Thinking of Madame Chiang and the remarkable history of the people of Taiwan is a great reminder that freedom comes at a price. Her husband and her father knew that and fought to preserve the China that they knew ultimately taking the legitimate government of China into exile on Taiwan.

I had the honor of attending the first peaceful transition of power in Chinese history in May of 2000 when President Lee turned over the government of Taiwan to President Chen Shui Bian. Both are remarkable men. Lee in many ways is the embodiment of the "Philosopher King".

Thank you for this post and have a wonderful Monday.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Soong Mei-ling in 1999.

[blackdog]

Any Eleanor photo must be accompanied by a hurl warning. She wasn't mentioned in the text and I was caught off guard. That is one fugly creature. I would say "She looks like a man baby", but that would be troublesome for any men out there who may be homosexual. I have feelings too.

One of the reasons we will have more than relative success in this country keeping safe, is the fact that every outhouse country sends us their children for schooling, their wives and daughters for shopping, their soldiers for training, their parents for healthcare, their smuggled cash(after laundering it out of US foreign aid) in the form of investments, and so on. To cause a mess here, requires the harm of those outhouse nationals. This country is where they come to enjoy life, not like at home.

[blackdog]

No disrespect meant to Madame Chiang of course.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A Flip Corkin good morning to you, sir.

[writmeister]

Madame Chiang is the daughter of Charlie Soong. Her sister was married to Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Later, her sister became a fervent communist. The third sister was married to China's most prominent banker.

[Ditto]

I stand corrected. Thanks.

[FlameThrower]

Actually: sister-in-law. Sun Yat-Sen married her sister -- who became a commie. The girls were daughters of Dr. Soong.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

She also has a home on Lake Conroe just north of Houston that was, until his death a couple of years ago, maintained by her nephew who ran/owned Weslico Oil.

In the mid 90's my brother (he's a homebuilder) was hired to add to the servants quarters. Not her servants mind you, but the servants who served her servants.

[NativeNewYorker]

the servants who served her servants

Wow.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Must be very, very old money.

[arthurus]

The Dragon Lady character in Terry and the Pirates was said to be based on Madame Chiang.

Actually it was Madame Nhu, Diem's sister in law, wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu. She was very much the manipulative mistress of intrigue which was portrayed in Terry.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

That was ten years later. There may have been two Dragon Ladies...

[weaponeer]

I was stationed in Taipei in 1975 when Chiang Kai-shek died. My wife, who is Taiwanese, and had family connections, attended the State Funeral. I met Madame Chiang Kai-shek at the Officer's Club in Taipei several times. A very gracious and entertaining lady even then.

[NativeNewYorker]

Looking back, it is almost as if the mid-20th century was an era of giants.

And our post-Reagan/Thatcher epoch seems like a time of Lilliputians.