Soong Ching-ling

Former Vice President of the People's Republic of China and third wife of Sun Yat-sen (1893–1981)

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Lived 1893–1981, aged 88China

China PoliticiansPolitician

Wikipedia
56 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1893–1981
Aged 88
Awards
1
recognised work

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

She married the founder of the Republic of China, outlasted him by fifty-six years, and became the only woman to serve as head of state — non-Communist — in the People's Republic that followed. Soong Ching-ling held power through civil war, invasion, and the Cultural Revolution by never quite belonging to any single camp.

Biography

About

Born in Shanghai in 1893 and educated in the United States, Soong married Sun Yat-sen as his third wife in 1915 and became a fierce advocate for the KMT-CCP coalition he championed. When Chiang Kai-shek broke with the Communists in 1927, she refused to follow, splitting from her own family as China tore itself apart. She joined the Communist government in 1949 and spent the next three decades in its upper ranks — Vice Chairman of the PRC, Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress — serving twice as de facto head of state when the presidency sat empty. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Soong Ching-ling

Soong Ching-ling

said1978

In my mind, there is still the idea of fraternity in the Bible.

— In a letter written to her Japanese friend Fumiko Niki in 1978, 宋慶齡基督教思想之演變

Soong Ching-ling

said1960

The people are patient, but the stomach cannot wait too long.

— Djakarta Dispatches (1960)

Soong Ching-ling

said1941

In the last analysis, all revolutions must be social revolutions, based upon fundamental changes in society; otherwise it is not a revolution, but merely a change of government.

— Hahn, Emily. The Soong Sisters: Generic, 1941

Soong Ching-ling

saidundated