Chang Ya-juo

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chang.
Chang Ya-juo
章亞若
Born
Chang Mao-li (章懋李)

1913 (1913)[1]
Jiujiang, Republic of China[1]
Died1942 (aged 28–29)[2]
Guilin, Guangxi, Republic of China[2]
Known forBeing the mother of Chiang Ching-kuo's illegitimate twin sons
PartnerChiang Ching-kuo
Children

Chang Ya-juo[a] (died 1942[2]) was the mistress of Chiang Ching-kuo and bore twin sons for him, John Chiang and Winston Chang.[1] She was born in Jiujiang and met Chiang when she was working at a training camp for enlistees in the fight against Japan while he was serving as the head of Gannan Prefecture.[3][4]

The twins took their mother's surname. Chang Ya-juo died under mysterious circumstances; after dining at a friend's house, she came home complaining of stomach cramps. She was admitted to the hospital in Guilin and died the next day.[2][3]

After their mother's death, the twins were raised by Chang's brother and sister-in-law, Chang Hau-juo (章浩若; Zhāng Hàoruò) and Chi Chen (季琛; Jì Chēn), respectively, who were officially listed as their parents.[5] They escaped to Taiwan with their uncle and aunt in 1949 and settled near Hsinchu.

After a legal process[6] that included obtaining written declarations from Chi's sons, documents attesting to the father-sons relationship between Chiang Ching-kuo and the twins from retired general Wang Sheng (王昇; Wáng Shēng), the birth certificate listing Chang Ya-juo as his mother and DNA testing to prove that Chi was not his birth mother, John Chiang was able to obtain a new ID card listing Chiang Ching-kuo and Chang Ya-juo as his biological parents in December 2002.[5] John Chiang officially changed his surname to Chiang in March 2005.[7]

In 2006, Chiang stated he knew the identity of his mother's murderer, to be revealed as one of Chiang Ching-kuo's aides in his forthcoming memoirs, but that Chiang Ching-kuo had not ordered the murder and was not aware it was to take place.[2][8]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference wchnxz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e "John Chiang says he has solved mother's murde". Taipei Times. 27 Jan 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2015. She died in a hospital in Guilin, China, in 1942, shortly after giving birth to John and his twin brother Winston
  3. ^ a b Demick, Barbara (20 June 2003). "A Scion's Story Full of Twists". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  4. ^ Bradsher, Keith (11 January 2003). "Taiwan Lawmaker's Skill May Be Hereditary". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  5. ^ a b Hsu, Crystal (14 December 2002). "John Chang gets new identity". Taipei Times. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  6. ^ Tsai, Ting-I (13 July 2002). "Legislator will have to clear hurdles in bid to alter ID card". Taipei Times. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Chang has become Chiang". Taipei Times. CNA. 8 March 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  8. ^ 蔣孝嚴; Chiang, John (2006). 蔣家門外的孩子 : 蔣孝嚴逆流而上 [The Chiang family's outside children : John Chiang's upstream journey] (in Chinese). Taipei: 天下遠見出版股份有限公司. ISBN 9789864176816. OCLC 70663153.


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