Chen Jieru

Chen Jieru
Born (1906-08-26)26 August 1906
Shanghai, Jiangsu, Qing Empire
Died 21 January 1971(1971-01-21) (aged 64)
Hong Kong
Spouse(s) Chiang Kai-shek (m.1921-1927)
Children Chiang Yao-kuang

Chen Jieru (Chinese: 陳潔如; Wade-Giles: Ch'en Chieh-ju; Pinyin: Chén Jiérú; August 26, 1906 – January 21, 1971) was the second wife of Chiang Kai-shek. She was nicknamed Jennie.[1]

Chen's ancestral hometown was Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, and she was born in Shanghai. She wrote a memoir which Chiang successfully suppressed during his lifetime.[2][3]

It was finally published in 1993.[4] In the memoir, Chen details how she and Chiang Kai-shek met at the home of a mutual friend in 1918 and how he pursued her, finally convincing her to marry him in late 1921 by stating that his arranged marriage with Mao Fumei was unhappy and celibate, and his liaison with Yao Yecheng was a social courtesy following her disfigurement.[4]

On their wedding night, Chiang infected Chen with syphilis, the treatment for which left her infertile.[5] Due to this, she adopted Chiang Yao-kuang.[6]

Chiang promised Chen that he was marrying Soong Meiling for political convenience before a Buddhist shrine, saying "Should I break my promise and fail to take her back, may the Great Buddha smite me and my Nanjing government.", and arranged for her to go to the United States on a five-year "study tour"; after this she was meant to return and married life would resume. However, once there, Chen learned from press articles that Chiang denied their marriage and said that he had paid for a "concubine" to move to the United States, which deeply aggrieved Chen.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Chang, Laurence. The Zhangs from Nanxun: A One Hundred and Fifty Year Chronicle of a Chinese Family. CF Press, 2010. ISBN 0692008454, 9780692008454. p. 199.
  2. ↑ 《人物：红颜命薄--做了七年蒋介石夫人的陈洁如(图)》，摘自赵宏著《蒋介石家族的女人们》，news.sina.com.cn轉載。
  3. ↑ "Review: Chiang Kai-shek's Secret Past: The Memoir of His Second Wife, Ch'en Chieh-ju. Edited and with an introduction by Lloyd E. Eastman. [Boulder: Westview Press, 1993. 273 pp. £20.95. ISBN 0-8133-1824-6.]". China Quarterly. Cambridge University Journals. 140: 1162–1163. December 1994. doi:10.1017/S0305741000053091. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Ch'en, Chieh-ju; Lee, James (1993). Eastman, Lloyd E., ed. Chiang Kai-shek's Secret Past: The Memoir of His Second Wife, Ch'en Chieh-ju. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-1824-6. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  5. ↑ Ryan, Tom (2016). Purnell, Ingrid; Plozza, Shivaun, eds. China Rising: The Revolutionary Experience. Collingwood: History Teachers' Association of Victoria. p. 79. ISBN 9781875585083.
  6. ↑ Li, Laura Tyson (2007). Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady. Grove/Atlantic, Inc. ISBN 9780802198730.
  7. ↑ Ryan, Tom (2016). Purnell, Ingrid; Plozza, Shivaun, eds. China Rising: The Revolutionary Experience. Collingwood: History Teachers' Association of Victoria. p. 79. ISBN 9781875585083.


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