02.15
Hours: Daily
9am-4:30pm
Address Huáihai Zhong
Lù 1843
Phone: 021/6437-6268
Prices Admission ¥8
($1)
Transportation No Metro
Soong Ching-ling (1893-1981) is revered throughout
to a wealthy family, she married the founder of the
who all fled
cultural posts in the communist government. This 1920s villa, built by a Greek sea captain in the French Concession, served as her residence from 1948 to 1963. Little is changed at this two-story house with white walls and green
shutters with many of the rooms much as Soong left them. Unfortunately, only the first floor living and dining areas are accessible; her upstairs office, bedroom, and the bedroom of her devoted maid, Li Yan’e, are closed to the public for conservation reasons. There are two black sedans in the garage, one presented to her by Stalin in 1952. A new annex just inside the gate displays relics from her life, including her
Ching-ling died in
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-1945), Madame Soong Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, generously donated the house at Rue Moliere (now Xiangshan Lu) as a “
In the following years, Soong Ching-ling did not have a decent residence. Finally, Generalissimo Chiang
Kai-shek, her brother-in-law, arranged for her to have the villa at 1843 Huaihai Zhonglu in
The boat-fashioned villa was originally built in 1920, and was owned by a German shipbuilding tycoon. It was
later sold to a German doctor and then in 1929 to a Chinese businessman.
The villa was first the home of Chiang’s second son, Chiang Wei-kou, and later a hostel for a KMT governmental
bureau. It was only in March 1948 that Soong Ching-ling moved into the house.
In the sitting room, two pictures hang above the mantelpiece — one of Sun Yat-sen and the other of Mao Zedong
visiting Soong Ching-ling in 1961.
In the sitting room, Soong Ching-ling received many heads of state and top-ranking officials — Mao, Liu
Shaoqi, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Kim Il-Sung of
In the dining room, there is an oil painting of Soong’s mother and some gifts from foreign state leaders.
To the east of the sitting room is a library, which contained more than 4,000 books in Chinese, English, French and Russian.
The bedroom on the second floor contains a set of teakwood furniture Soong’s parents sent her as dowry. On the wall is a wedding picture of Soong and Sun Yat-sen.
The clock, once used by Sun, sits on the mantelpiece and the time is frozen at 8:18pm, the time Soong Ching-ling
left the world. Outside the bedroom is a large veranda. Also on the second floor is Soong’s study and the bedroom of Soong’s nanny Li Yan’e.
In the 1950s, an auxiliary building was added near the villa to accommodate Soong’s staff and guards. Many
activities of the China Welfare Institution, of which Soong Ching-ling was chairman, were held in the compound.
Soong Ching-ling died on May 29, 1981. Of the three Soong sisters, of whom it is said one loved money, one loved
power, and one loved
In 1988 the residence was formally opened to the public.
Who is Soong Ching-ling
Soong Ch’ing-ling (Simplified Chinese: 宋庆龄;
Traditional Chinese: 宋慶齡; pinyin: Sòng Qìnglíng;
Wade-Giles: Sung Ch’ing-ling) (January 27, 1892 – May 29, 1981) was one of the Soong sisters—three sisters whose husbands were amongst
Sun Yat-sen, she was described as the “one who loved
She was born to the wealthy businessman and missionary Charlie Soong in Nanshi (a part of nowaday Huangpu
District),
in
She married Sun Yat-sen in
opposed the marriage, as Dr. Sun was 26 years her senior. After Sun’s death in 1925, she was elected to the Kuomintang (KMT) Central Executive Committee in 1926. However, she exiled herself to
Although Soong reconciled with the KMT during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), she sided with the Communists in
the Chinese Civil War. She did not join the party but rather was part of the united front heading up the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang.
Soong Ching-ling accompanied Sun Yat-sen in 1924 on his final trip to
In 1939, she founded the China Defense League, which later became the China Welfare Institute. The committee
worked for peace and justice, and now focuses on maternal and pediatric healthcare, preschool education, and other children’s issues.
In the early 1950s, she founded the magazine, CHINA RECONSTRUCTS, now known as
Israel Epstein. This magazine is published monthly in 6 languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Arabic and Spanish).
After the establishment of the People’s Republic of
translated as “Vice President”), Head of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association and Honorary President of the All-China Women’s Federation. In 1951
she was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize (Lenin Peace Prize after destalinization), and in 1953 a collection of her writings, Struggle for New China, was published. From 1968 to 1972 she acted jointly with Dong Biwu as
head of state.
On May 16, 1981, two weeks before her death, she was admitted to the Communist Party and was named Honorary
President of the People’s Republic of
Unlike her younger sister Soong May-ling, who sided with her husband Chiang Kai-shek and fled to
Technorati Tags: Soong Ching-ling’s Former Residence (Song Qingling Guju), Shanghai Soong Ching-ling house, Shanghai tourist spots, Shanghai sight seeing spot
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