Chapter 37 6. Unprovoked Gossip Song

Meiling is a great beauty.She not only has Chinese classical temperament, but also has western elegance, and at the same time has a sharp and shrewd style.She is a lovely person.Thus, if in her later years people talked a lot about the secret of her longevity, then in her early years, her beauty and love affairs were the most rumored. Beauty is sometimes a sin. In this regard, Song Meiling always laughed and remained silent. However, scandals about her affair always linger in people's minds. When Chongqing was the capital, it was rumored that Wu Guozhen, the "first lady" who was also the mayor of Chongqing, "had an affair".

Wu Guozhen is Soong Meiling's confidant, and is known to all inside and outside the circle. Some things involve personnel issues, and Soong Meiling has to go through Wu Guozhen's inspection before she can rest assured.Because there are many such things, there are ups and downs. Soong Meiling hates to fiddle with things from the bottom of her heart, especially these boring things, and she always sneers at them. Chen Jiyi and Song Meiling traveled from the United States to China, from Shanghai to Nanjing, and from Nanjing to Chongqing. For a long time, they knew all about Soong Meiling's public and private inside stories.Soong Meiling also often talked to her.She was sure that Soong Meiling had no extramarital affairs.When Song Meiling's secretary talked about this issue, she quoted Chen Jiyi's theory: "Song Meiling has great ambitions, and her ambition is not small. She is obsessed with politics, foreign affairs and other affairs. She is very busy and has no leisure time for romance. .”

Chen Jiyi said: "Speaking of Mr. Wu Guozhen... He is neither a handsome man, nor a handsome and burly husband. How could he be favored by Soong Meiling as a lover? - In fact, they are very good friends. Today in the 20th century , we should admit that the opposite sex can also become a pure and noble confidant. Wu Guozhen is a man with extraordinary mind, political sensitivity, outstanding talent, and is extremely loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and his wife. He is their prime minister. This is the relationship between Song Meiling and him close cause." It should be said that this is believable.

The so-called extramarital affair about Soong Meiling's "scandal" that has caused even more uproar at home and abroad is the "affair" between Soong Meiling and Wendell Wilkie, the Chinese special envoy of US President Roosevelt. This is a secret among secrets.Due to limited information, this book can only record the essence of Yang Tianshi's manuscript published in the 10th issue of 2003, which can be regarded as an explanation of this issue: In 1985, American Michael Cowles published a memoir "Review of Michael" , which wrote that in October 1942, when Wendell Wilkie, the special envoy of US President Roosevelt, visited Chongqing, Soong Meiling had a "love affair" with him.When Chiang Kai-shek found out, he angrily led soldiers with automatic rifles to catch the rape.Since Cowles was Wilkie's entourage when he visited China that year, the above-mentioned plot is easy to win people's trust. In 1986, the October issue of the Hong Kong "Nineties" magazine translated Cowles' relevant memories. In 1995, Li Ao and Wang Rongzu cited it in their co-authored article, and made a detailed demonstration and analysis.Later, Li Ao signed separately and wrote articles such as "Song Meiling Steals Foreigners to Raise Foreigners", "Chiang Kai-shek's Story of Catching Traitors", "Song Beauty Who Adultery" and so on.In recent years, some books, periodicals and websites published in mainland China are also willing to spread this theory, competing to promote it.

So, whether there is such a thing in history is worthy of serious investigation. The book "Michael Review" wrote: "The next stop of our journey is China. The modern luxury mansion of Song Ziwen, Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek's brother, was our headquarters in Chongqing for six days. ... One night in Chongqing, the chairman gave us a grand reception.After some welcoming remarks, the Chairman, Mrs. and Wilkie formed a reception group.About an hour later, as I was mingling with the guests, a Chinese adjutant told me that Wendell was looking for me. I found Wilkie, who whispered to me that he and his wife would disappear in a few minutes, and that I would take his place and cover them as best I could.

...Shortly after the dinner, there was a loud noise in the atrium, and the chairman rushed in furiously.Accompanying him were three bodyguards, each carrying an automatic rifle.The chairman suppressed his anger and bowed indifferently to me, which I returned. 'Where's Wilkie? ' he asked after the ceremony. 'I don't know, he's not home. ''Where's Wilkie? ' he asked again. 'I assure you, Chairman, he's not here, and I don't know where he might be. ’ Following behind me and the guards, the Chairman walked through the entire house.He checked every room, poked under the bed, opened all the cupboards.At last, satisfied that the two of them were indeed not in the house, he left without saying goodbye.

At four o'clock in the morning, a jovial Wilkie shows up, as proud as a college student after a wonderful night with his girlfriend..." It should be said that Cowles' story is very detailed and vivid.However, this is another story full of flaws, very absurdly fabricated, and very clumsy. Wilkey arrived in Chongqing from Chengdu on October 2, left Chongqing on the afternoon of the 7th, and flew to Xi'an. During Wilkie's visit to Chongqing, the welcome banquet hosted by Chiang Kai-shek and attended by Song Meiling was only once on the evening of October 3. "At about half past ten, the one-night event ended happily." During this period, Wilkie and Song Meiling were always present, so how could there be a chance to slip out? !

The important thing is that Wilkie had never met Soong Meiling before coming to China. After arriving in Chongqing, at noon on the 3rd, he only had a 35-minute conversation with the Chiang couple.During the dinner, how could the relationship between Wilkie and Song Meiling heat up so quickly, reaching the height of mutual understanding and going out to have an affair? Not to mention other obvious flaws in Cowles' "memories", as far as Jiang Song had no emotional crisis back then, Cowles's records should be false.What Cowles said comes from the records in the first volume of his father Pearson's diary compiled and published by the American Abel in 1974.The book mentioned that when Wilkie visited Chongqing in the name of President Roosevelt's special envoy, he had an affair with Mrs. Chiang. In a fit of rage, the chairman took 60 military police to the Nan'an mansion to catch the rape, but found nothing.Before leaving, Wilkie went to bid farewell to Mrs. Jiang, and closed the door for an hour and twenty minutes before coming out.etc.

Pearson is a famous American columnist.He has poor human qualities and specializes in poaching people's privacy, and was once denounced by Roosevelt as "a person who is used to spreading rumors."He was not in Chongqing during Wilkie's visit to China, and he had no close relationship with Wilkie. His diary began in 1949 and ended in 1959. The romantic affair between Song and Wei was seen in the diary on June 13, 1957. It is completely hearsay after many years, and it is of little value.However, due to its "commercial value", the diary quickly attracted attention after it was published, and was listed as a key recommendation object by the monthly book fair in the United States.When introducing the diary, the association's book news of the month not only published a side-by-side photo of Wilkie and Soong Mei-ling, but also had the title "a hasty union".It happened that Lu Yizheng, director of the Taiwan News Office in New York, found out that he had reported it to the Taiwan Information Bureau, but the Information Bureau did not dare to continue to report it. However, Song Meiling had read the letter sent by a good old American lady, and was furious, and ordered Lu Yizheng. Ten major newspapers including the New York Times published full-page advertisements to refute the rumors.After repeated consideration, and with Soong Meiling's consent, Lu Yizheng first negotiated with the publishing company of the book and asked for corrections, but was rejected.Afterwards, Lu Yizheng immediately collected evidence and testimonies, and filed a civil lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court on behalf of Soong Meiling, requesting the publishing company and Aibel to compensate Soong Meiling's reputation loss of 3 million US dollars.After more than a year of negotiation and consultation, the Publishing Bureau finally accepted three conditions: 1. A public apology; 2. A promise to delete the defamatory text when the book is republished; Fees, delivery fees, deposit letter fees, etc. totaled more than 700 US dollars.These three conditions were approved by Song Meiling.

Later, the first volume of "Pearson's Diary" was never reprinted, and the second and second volumes were stillborn and never published. In this case, Cowles has issued written testimony.Lu Ji recounted: "I asked him whether the story mentioned in "Pearson's Diary" was correct, and he laughed and said, 'This is impossible, absolutely nothing!' The identity of the reporter who accompanied Wilkie on his visit to China shows that there is absolutely no such thing. He immediately called the female secretary in, dictated a letter, and signed it to me. Such a bold personality is still unforgettable to me.”

The hype is purely for profit, and the rumors are not true.Yang Tianshiwen has a clear point of view, and the author deeply agrees with it.