The Soong Ching Ling Memorial Residence ( zh, s=宋庆龄故居), located at 1843 Middle

Huaihai Road Huaihai Road or Huaihai Lu (; Shanghainese: ''Wahae Lu'') is a road in Shanghai, China. The central section of Huaihai Road is one of the two major shopping streets in central Shanghai; the other is Nanjing Road. Compared with the more touristy ...

Xuhui District Xuhui District is a core urban district of Shanghai. It has a land area of and a population of 1,113,078 as of 2020. Xuhui District has 12 subdistricts and two townships. The Xuhui District is named after its namesake, the historic area of X ...

, is the former residence of

Soong Ching-ling Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981), Christian name Rosamonde or Rosamond, was a Chinese political figure. She was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, therefore known by Madame Sun Yat-sen and the "''Father of the Nation, Mother of Mode ...

(wife of

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

and later Vice-President and Honorary

President of the People's Republic of China The president of China, officially the president of the People's Republic of China, is the List of state representatives of the People's Republic of China, state representative of the China, People's Republic of China. On its own, it is a Fig ...

) in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China, from 1948 to 1963. It is in the west part of the former

Shanghai French Concession The Shanghai French Concession was a concessions in China, foreign concession in Shanghai, Republic of China (1912–1949), China from 1849 until 1943. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the ...

area and was built in the 1920s by an American shipping captain, Leo R. Ball. It covers a land area of , and comprises a white three-story building with front and back yards.

History

After the end of the Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Soong Ching-ling donated her residence, located at 29 rue Molière (present-day Xiangshan Road), to the government of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

as a memorial to her deceased husband, President

. In return, the government conferred this house on her. In spring 1949, Soong moved from 45 Jingjiang Road to this residence, where she soon witnessed the capture of Shanghai by the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

. After the establishment of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1949, Soong served in several prominent positions in the central government, including Vice-President of China, that her residence in Shanghai became an important working space. In the house, Song met not only senior CPC leaders, including

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...

Liu Shaoqi Liu Shaoqi ( ; 24 November 189812 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1954 to 1959, first-ranking Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communis ...

, Chen Yi and

Deng Yingchao Deng Yingchao (; 4 February 1904 – 11 July 1992) was the Chairwoman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1983 to 1988, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and the wife of the first Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai. ...

, but also foreign statesmen, such as

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

Kliment Voroshilov Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov ( ; ), popularly known as Klim Voroshilov (; 4 February 1881 – 2 December 1969), was a prominent Soviet Military of the Soviet Union, military officer and politician during the Stalinism, Stalin era (1924–195 ...

U Nu Nu (; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as Burmese names#Honorifics, U Nu and also by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a prominent Burmese people, Burmese statesman and the first Prime Minister of Union of Burma. He was ...

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 188817 April 1975; natively Radhakrishna) was an Indian academician, philosopher and statesman who served as the President of India from 1962 to 1967. He previously served as the vice president of ...

and

Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (; ; ; 17 April 1916 – 10 October 2000), commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan politician. She was the List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government, world's first fe ...

. From April 1963, due to her work, Soong spent most of her time in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, and only returned to Shanghai for occasional stays and holidays. On December 31, 1978, Song returned to Shanghai for the Spring Festival and stayed there until the end of February 1979. This was her last stay in Shanghai. Soong died in Beijing on May29, 1981. Her house in Shanghai was refurbished and opened to a limited circle in October. On October22 of that year, the memorial residence was accredited with being a Shanghai Municipal Preserved Cultural Relic by the city government. It was opened to the public in May 1988, and became one of patriotic education sites in Shanghai. On June 25, 2001, Song's memorial residence became a National Key Preserved Cultural Relic honored by the State Council.

Collection

The residence hosts a collection of over 15,000 of Song' items. Among them, there are pictures, letters, Song's college diploma, collected books, daily utensils, presents from state activities, and also some articles belonging to her relatives. In addition, there are the seals of Sun Yat-sen, preserved by Song after many troubles.

References

External links

Soong Ching Ling Memorial Residence in Shanghai website

Song Ching Ling Memorial Residence in Shanghai

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song Ching Ling Memorial Residence In Shanghai Soong Ching-ling Museums established in 1988 1981 establishments in China Museums in Shanghai Houses in Shanghai Biographical museums in China Women's museums in China History museums in China Historic house museums in China Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shanghai National second-grade museums of China 1981 in Shanghai Museums established in 1981

History

Collection

See also

References

External links