Soong Ching-ling

Madam Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling OPC KGC
宋庆龄
Soong in the 1940s
Honorary Chairwoman of China
In office 16 May 1981 – 29 May 1981
Appointed by	the Standing Committee of the 5th National People's Congress on 16 May 1981
Premier	Zhao Ziyang
Vice Chairwoman of China
In office 27 April 1959 – 17 January 1975 Serving with Dong Biwu
President	Liu Shaoqi Vacant (after 1968)
Preceded by	Zhu De
Succeeded by	Ulanhu (1983)
Acting Chairwoman of China
In office 31 October 1968 – 24 February 1972
Premier	Zhou Enlai
Preceded by	Liu Shaoqi (as Chairman)
Succeeded by	Dong Biwu (as Acting Chairman)
Vice Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
In office 17 January 1975 – 29 May 1981
Chairman	Zhu De Vacant[nb] Ye Jianying
In office 27 September 1954 – 28 April 1959
Chairman	Liu Shaoqi
Vice Chairwoman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
In office 25 December 1954 – 29 April 1959
Chairman	Zhou Enlai
Vice Chairwoman of the Central People's Government
In office 1 October 1949 – 27 September 1954 Serving with Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Gao Gang
Chairman	Mao Zedong
Personal details
Born	(1893-01-27)27 January 1893 Shanghai, China
Died	29 May 1981(1981-05-29) (aged 88) Beijing, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (1981)
Other political affiliations	Kuomintang (1919–1947) Communist International (1930s–1943) Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (1948–1981)
Spouse	Sun Yat-sen ​ ​ (m. 1915; died 1925)​
Parent(s)	Charlie Soong and Ni Kwei-tseng
Relatives	Soong Mei-ling (sister) Chiang Kai-shek (brother-in-law) Soong Ai-ling (sister)
Alma mater	Wesleyan College
Signature
n.b. ^ Between 1976 and 1978, Soong presided over the meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and performed its powers as head of state in her capacity as the NPCSC First Vice Chairperson.

Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling^[a] (27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981) was a Chinese political figure. She was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, therefore known by Madame Sun Yat-sen^[b] and the "mother of modern China."^[1] A member of the Soong family, she and her family played a significant role in shaping the Republic of China. As a prominent leader of the left wing of the Kuomintang (KMT), she founded the Revolutionary Committee of the KMT. She entered the Communist government in 1949, and was the only female, non-Communist head of state of the People's Republic of China. She was named Honorary President of the People's Republic of China and admitted to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a few weeks before her death in 1981.

Soong married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China and the KMT, as his third wife in 1915 and became a strong advocate for Sun's KMT-CCP coalition, opposing Chiang Kai-shek's split with the CCP in 1927. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), she joined her sisters in Chongqing to demonstrate national unity and support for the KMT-CCP alliance. However, during the subsequent Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), she shifted her support to the CCP, leading to a break in ties with her family. After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, she held several prominent positions in the Communist government, including Vice Chairman of the PRC (1949–1954; 1959–1975) and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1954–1959; 1975–1981). She traveled abroad during the early 1950s, representing her country at a number of international events.

Following the purge of President Liu Shaoqi in 1968, she and Dong Biwu as Vice Presidents became de facto Heads of State of China until 1972,^[2] when Dong was appointed Acting President. During the Cultural Revolution, Soong was protected from being purged, as the top name on A List of Cadres to Be Protected [zh] created by Zhou Enlai. Despite this, her Beijing home was invaded by Red Guards, and her parents' tombs in Shanghai were destroyed.^[3] Soong survived the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution but appeared less frequently after 1976. As the acting Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1976 to 1978, Soong was again the acting Head of State, as the office of President had been abolished. During her final illness in May 1981, she was given the special title of "Honorary President of the People's Republic of China".

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