Old photos of the U.S. welcoming Song Meiling to the country
If Tang Ying, the socialite, made the whole Shanghai Bund obsessed with cheongsam, then Song Meiling, the First Lady at that Time, made cheongsam a Chinese symbol. Song Mei Ling’s oversized closet became the world’s largest cheongsam storage room. Remembering the newlyweds, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling had their wedding in Shanghai and set their honeymoon in Hangzhou.
On the evening of December 1, 1927, surrounded by 200 guards, Chiang and Soong embarked on their honeymoon journey by special train. However, plans always fail to change, Chiang Kai-shek was hastily recalled by a telegram, the two ended this short honeymoon trip. At that time, their apartment in Hangzhou, it is the two married, Sheng Xuanhuai’s fourth son of Shanghai business tycoon Sheng Enyi gift of wedding gifts, named: “Cheng Lu.”
Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling’s intensely affectionate photo
Although their honeymoon trip failed to enjoy, but every year after that they came to Hangzhou together for vacation and recuperation. Soong Mei-ling was a senior student at Wellesley University in the United States and was more westernized and liked to travel and play in the mountains, while Chiang Kai-shek couldn’t forget the West Lake vinegar fish in Hangzhou, so they left a lot of footprints in the scenic places in Hangzhou.
On February 5, 1937, Shanghai’s “Declaration” published the news of “Chairman and Mrs. Chiang visited Wushan”: “Chairman and Mrs. Chiang, at 12:30 p.m. on the fourth day, went out of the carriage to inspect the city around Qinghefang, accompanied by the military and police chiefs and other escorts, and then switched to a rattan sedan chair to visit Wushan Ziyang Mountain, overlooking the Qianjiang estuary. Chiang wore a blue and gray robe, holding a cane, walking very healthy, along the way to watch the chairman of the style, many people, Chiang are smiling greetings. About 2:30 began to go back down the mountain to the Executive Yuan.” The driver who was driving for Mr. and Mrs. Chiang recalls the scene at that time, still remembers that Mrs. Soong often wears a set of Yin Dan Shi Lin blue cheongsam, light blue shawl, looks quite simple and clean, a different kind of quiet and moving.
Soong Mei-ling’s speech in the U.S. House of Representatives
Soong Mei-ling studied in the United States since childhood, the lifestyle is very foreign, but dress is a full Chinese flavor, in Soong Mei-ling’s closet, clear all cheongsam. Song Mei-ling likes cheongsam because it can highlight the charm of oriental women, and her slender figure can show her figure better with cheongsam. Some KMT dignitaries’ ladies, in major festivals, will coincidentally send her senior fabric as gifts, these senior cheongsam material Song Mei-ling can never use up, she made cheongsam “appetite” too big, so that her “imperial” cheongsam master a year busy To the head, almost all the time for her to do cheongsam, an average of every two or three days to make a piece. Song Meiling’s cheongsam in the end how many pieces, I’m afraid even she herself can not say. Because there are too many, so each new piece of clothing will only be worn once or twice, from then on the “high pavilion”, never to show the day. In her spare time, she would also open her closet and admire some. Soong Mei-ling is very demanding, especially in the summer, at most one day to wear a replacement. Hot weather, as long as her cheongsam on a little sweat stains, she will immediately replace the new; rainy days, cheongsam hem if a little mud stains, she will also be sure to change as soon as possible. Soong Mei-ling often carried a variety of cheongsam to meet various occasions. When meeting with important VIPs, she would wear the most high-end cheongsam. Even when she spoke to the U.S. Congress during World War II, she still wore the most elegant Chinese dress, the cheongsam, and Americans later said it was amazing to see a Chinese woman dressed like that, yet speaking English.
Song Meiling
Song Mei-ling’s love of cheongsam was also related to her love of traditional Chinese Culture. She was a master of Chinese painting, having studied with Zhang Daqian and Huang Binhong, and was a master of Chinese painting, and her ladies’ drawings were close to cheongsams. Throughout her long Life, she hardly ever wore pants. Even when she was a hundred years old, she still wore cheongsam as a companion.
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