Show I 1 L E MA aa I 1 D ta by JOSEPH VV labine when the leaves were turning yellow in the autumn of 1908 1903 three little maids in flowing silken gowns marched up the stairs of a victorian building in macon georgia and breathlessly confronted the registrar of wesleyan college oldest chartered hart ered womans comans college in the world temporarily taken aback the registrar quickly regained his composure and nipped flipped open the pages of a great ledger in the great book the three little maids inscribed one after the other these names eling E ling soong ching ling soong mayling may ling soong father cha charles rles jones soong shanghai china then armed with certificates of registration the three little maids climbed more stairs marched down a long corridor toward their rooms and toward a place in history as one of the greatest trios of women in the chronicles of mankind today with china fighting for her very life as a free and independent democracy the enrollment of the three soong sisters at wesleyan takes on many aspects of a turning point in history for when the three little chinese maids registered at an american college the history of china began shaping reshaping re itself to fit an american pattern it was a process which had been heading toward a climax for a full quarter century in the the father of the three soong girls charles jones soong arrived in the united states as a poor relation come to serve an apprenticeship with a wealthy uncle in boston fortunately for china however charles soong found a way out looking about for an american solution to his problem he found it in the very best tradition of the bay state he ran away to sea beginning as a cabin boy on a steamship plying the coastwise channels between boston and savannah ga in the sleepy lush civilization of the american deep south charles soong found something kindred to the slow but determined life 0 of f the agricultural china which had given him birth soon the little oriental cabin boy took off his white jacket for the last time and enrolled as a student at duke university back to the orient when charles soong returned to china as a publisher of bibles one of his first social projects was to found the chinese young mens christian association and as his three daughters and his son grew charles soong resolved to bring them up in the american way which had so profoundly in influenced fluen ced his own life in the care of a missionary returning to the united states he sent his four children to college the boy T V soong to harvard the three girls RIP fin WIN I 1 7 guf V 11 1 4 R ON t 41 v y w vw M w t jim RIME W U RV 0 04 R v ar bial t 1 ai g T wp R A 7 As a student at wesleyan little ching ling exclaimed over the success of dr sun yat sen chinas cainas george washington later she married him helping infuse the democratic american spirit into inlo chinas cainas people to staunch old methodist wesleyan the three soong sisters spoke many times of their hope that china might some day become a great republic like the united states and in 1911 they saw the first of their dreams for china come true when china became becam e a republic under the inspired leadership of one of his torys great republicans dr sun yat sen the enthusiasm of the second soong sister ching ling at this event is still remembered at we wesleyan s classmates say that when first news came of sun yat sens success ching ling clim climbed bed onto a chair to pull down the old imperial dragon from her wall and put in its place the flag of the new republic of china throwing the old banner to the floor she exclaimed sun yat sen has achieved one of the most glorious deeds in the history of the world she was right her enthusiasm was almost P prophetic for just four years later litt little e ching ling became the bride of S sun yat sen and as his wife was able ab e to aid him in his mission of infusing the democratic american spirit into chinas cainas people the historic significance of the am american education of the soong sisters became even more profound 11 I 1 T 1 1 J 4 i W n A alv I 1 1 may ling who frightened welles wellesley ley college by swinging a curved chinese scimitar over her head bead is now madame ladame fl chian K kai ai shek wife of chinas cainas leader in the current war of defense against the invading japanese she deserves her rank as one of the worlds most mo st notable women when the eldest eling E ling married dr H H kung himself an american university graduate as well as a descendant of confucius and today the premier of china when her sisters returned to china mayling may ling transferred to wellesley le college in massachusetts to be near her brother at harvard that little mayling may ling would ever become more famous than her two illustrious sisters seemed almost an impossibility but in 1927 at one of the innumerable gatherings at the soong house mayling may ling met a slim young leader of the chinese republicans chiang kai shek who had just concluded a spectacular campaign to unite china solidly behind the principles of sun yat sen chiang kai shek fell in love with mayling may ling their courtship was an impetuous and a strange one for interspersed with love making were interminable discussions of economics of chinas cainas history her future of great reforms and great plans during the courtship mayling may ling converted chiang kai shek to christianity he quickly became one of the most devout members of the southern methodist church then mayling and chiang kai shek were married and the most glorious decade in all chinas cainas years began her first step was to found the new life movement one of the most sensational reforms ever conceived in china into this new organization madame chiang and liar her two sisters gathered all the leading scholars and savants savanis of china with breathtaking breath taking rapidity the new life movement broke ground for vast housing projects for the long neglected chinese working classes outside shanghais Shan ghais international settlement on chinese owned land sprang up a great civic center with museums libraries housing projects theaters and parks a living symbol of the greatness planned for all of china by 1937 the progress of madam chiangi Chi angs new life movement had assumed the speed of a race a grim race in which the generalissimo and mayling may ling strove to complete their modernization before their envious neighbor struck then came war a war which students of the orient believe was begun gu n purely purel y to retard the progress of the awakened aw wakened china much that mayling may ling and generalissimo chiang and the soong sisters had done was destroyed hospitals universities churches housing projects all were ruthlessly destroyed but elou enough h survives to form a new foundation when it is over the three little maids who registered at an american college 30 years ago may have a new chance to rebuild china on a aund sound and enduring plan an american plan a western newspaper union |