Chiang Fang-liang

On 15 May 1916, Chiang was born near Orsha, then part of the Russian Empire, now is of Belarus. Chiang was orphaned at a young age and raised by her older sister Anna.[1][2]

At age 16, as a member of the Soviet Union's Communist Youth League, Chiang worked at the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant, where she met Chiang Ching-kuo, her supervisor.[3][4]

The couple's first child, Hsiao-wen, was born in December 1935.[3] The couple had a daughter, Hsiao-chang (born 1938 in Nanchang), and two more sons, Hsiao-wu (born 1945 in Chongqing) and Hsiao-yung (born 1948 in Shanghai). Each of her three younger children were born in different parts of China, reflecting turbulent years as an official of China.[4]

In December 1936, Joseph Stalin finally granted Chiang's return to China.[2] After the couple was received by Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling in Hangzhou, they traveled to the Chiang home in Xikou, Zhejiang, where they held a second marriage ceremony.[4] Fang-liang stayed behind to live with Chiang Ching-kuo's mother, Mao Fumei. She was assigned a tutor to learn Mandarin Chinese, but she learned the local Ningbo form of Wu Chinese instead.[1][2] She reportedly got along well with Mao Fumei and did her own housework.[2][4]

When Chiang Ching-kuo became President, Fang-liang rarely performed the traditional roles of First Lady. That is partly due to her lack of formal education; her husband also encouraged her not to get into politics.[5] She largely stayed out of the public spotlight[1][3] and little was ever known of her in an anti-communist atmosphere in the government. She never returned to Russia, and traveled abroad only three times in the last 50 years of her life, all to visit her children and their families. In 1992, she received a visit from a delegation including the mayor of Minsk, the capital of Belarus.[4][6] It was the only time that she made contact with anyone from her homeland.

All her children were sent to study in foreign universities[4] – Hsiao-wen to West Point and Park College, MO, Hsiao-wu to Munich, West Germany and the remaining children to the United States. All three sons died shortly after Ching-kuo's death in 1988: Hsiao-wen in April 1989, Hsiao-wu in July 1991, and Hsiao-yung in December 1996.[3] Fang-liang then lived in the suburbs of Taipei. She received occasional visitors, such as some prominent politicians who went to pay their respects every few years. In the Taiwanese media, if she ever received coverage, she was depicted as a virtuous wife who never complained and endured her loneliness with dignity.[1][2][7]

Chiang met Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, while working at the Ural Heavy Machine Plant in Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR. On 15 March 1935, aged 18, Chiang married him.[2][3] On 14 December 1935, their first son Chiang Hsiao-wen was born in the Soviet Union. Chiang's other children are Chiang Hsiao-chang (b. 1938 in Nanchang), Winston Hsiao-tzu Chang (b. 1942 in Guilin), John Hsiao-yen Chiang (b. 1942 in Guilin), Chiang Hsiao-wu (b. 1945 in Chekiang) and Chiang Hsiao-yung (b. 1948 in Shanghai).

Hsiao-Chang was able communicate with her in Russian, and had immigrated to the United States.

• Cafe Astoria

• Love to Fang-liang - the Chiang Family Album

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