Celebrities in Shanghai
宋氏三姐妹
The Soong Sisters
The Soong Sisters were three Chinese women who were， along with their husbands， amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20th century. They each played a major role in influencing their husbands， which， along with their own positions of power， ultimately changed the course of Chinese history.
宋氏三姐妹，与她们各自的丈夫，同为20世纪初中国最重要的政治人物。姐妹三人都对她们各自的“大人物”丈夫产生了巨大的影响，进而也改变了中国的历史轨迹。
Their father was American-educated Methodist minister Charlie Soong， who made a fortune in banking and printing. Their mother was Ni Kweitseng， whose mother Lady Xu was a descendant of Ming Dynasty mathematician and Jesuit Xu Guangqi. All three sisters attended Wesleyan College in Macon， Georgia. Their three brothers were all high-ranking officials in the Republic of China government.
父亲宋耀如是一位传教士和富商，母亲倪桂珍是徐光启的后人。三姐妹均曾于美国佐治亚州的威斯里安女子学院就读。另外三个兄弟--宋子文、宋子良、宋子安，皆为中华民国的高级
官员。
Throughout their lifetimes， each of the sisters followed her own belief in terms of supporting the Kuomintang (KMT) or the Communist Party of China. In the 1930s， Soong Ailing and her sister Meiling were the two richest women in China . Both of them supported the Nationalists.
终其一生，三姐妹各自追寻自己的信念，支持国民党或共产党。在20世纪30年代，宋霭龄和妹妹宋美龄是当时中国最富有的两位女性。而二人都站在国民党一方。
In 1937， when the Second Sino-Japanese war broke out， all three of them got together after a 10 -year separation in an effort to unite the KMT and CPC against the Imperial Japanese army. Soong Ailing devoted herself to social work such as helping wounded soldiers， refugees and orphans. She donated five ambulances and 37 trucks to the army in Shanghai and the air force， along with 500 leather uniforms.
1937年抗日战争爆发后，三姐妹十年分别后重新团聚，试图促成国共两党的联合，共同抗击日本侵略者。宋霭龄致力于社会工作，救助伤员，难民及孤儿，并向上海军队、空军捐出5辆救护车，37部卡车，还有500套皮革制服。
When the Japanese occupied Nanjing and Wuhan， the three sisters moved to Hong Kong. In 1940， they returned to Chongqing and established the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives， which opened job opportunities through weaving， sewing and other crafts. The sisters frequently visited schools， hospitals， orphanages， air raid shelters and aided war torn communities along the way. While both parties failed to unite at the most critical time in the 1940s， the sisters made a valiant effort in financing and assisting in all national activities.
日军占领了南京和武汉后，三姐妹搬去香港。1940年，她们回到重庆，并成立了中国工业合作协会，为人们提供了纺织业、手工业等就业机会。她们还经常探访学校、医院、孤儿院、防空洞，帮助遭到战争破坏的社区等等。尽管在20世纪40年代最关键时刻国共两党的合作未能达成，三姐妹在为集资和支持国民事务等方面都做出了很大的贡献。
Soong Ailing (1889-1973)was born in Shanghai. She was the eldest daughter of Charlie Soong. Her christian name was Nancy. She arrived in the United States in 1904 at the age of 14 to begin her education at Wesleyan College in Macon， Georgia. She returned to China in 1909 after graduation and worked as a secretary for Sun Yatsen. She was married to the richest man and finance minister of China， H. H. Kung. AiLing met Kung Hsianghsi in 1913 and married him in Japan the following year. She was engaged in improving child welfare after marriage and was too busy to continue to work for Sun Yat-sen. Her sister， Qingling， who had just graduated from America， succeeded her and worked as Sun Yatsen's secretary. Kung Hsianghsi and Ailing went to the United States with their family after the fall of the Nationalist government in 1949. She died at the age of 84 in 1973. She had four children， two daughters and two sons.
宋霭龄(1889-1973)，出生于上海，是宋家长女，教名南希。1904年，年仅14岁的她来到美国，开始了在佐治亚州的威斯里安女子学院的求学之路。1909年毕业回国，担任了孙中山的秘书。宋霭龄嫁给了当时的财政部长，首富孔祥熙。二人于1913年结识，次年在日本完婚。婚后她忙于提高儿童福利的事业，无法继续担任孙中山秘书一职，随即推荐了美国归来的宋庆龄接替了该职务。1949年国民政府失败后，宋霭龄与丈夫和家人迁居美国。1973年去世，享年84岁。她有四个孩子，两子两女。
Soong Qingling (18921981) was born in Shanghai， the second in order of seniority daughter. She also graduated from Wesleyan College. In 1914 she married Sun Yatsen， Father of Modern China and first President of the Republic of China， who was 26 years her senior， through Sun Yat-sen had an arranged marriage and children. Charlie Soong thought his friend was much too old for his daughter， but their love for each other and their shared goal of making China strong and improving the livelihood of the people gave them such a strong bond that they became inseparable.
宋庆龄（1893-1981），出生于上海，排行第二，同样毕业于威斯里安女子学院。1914年在日本嫁给年长她26岁的现代中国之父、中华民国第一位总统孙中山，尽管孙中山在之前的包办婚姻中已有妻儿。宋耀文虽难以接受好友孙中山与女儿悬殊的年龄差异，但二人的爱情及建设祖国、造福人民的共同目标让他们冲破了重重阻碍走到一起。
After Sun Yatsen's death in 1925， Qingling was elected to the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee in 1926. She sided the Communists in the Chinese civil war. After the defeat of the Communists， she resigned from the Kuomintang and went to Moscow in 1927. The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) reconciled her with the Kuomintang. With the help of her sisters (despite their political differences)， they encouraged nationalist cooperation between the Communists and the Kuomintang to fight the Japanese invasion until 1946.
1925年孙中山去世，1926年宋庆龄被选入国民党中央执行委员会。国共内战时，宋庆龄选择站在了共产党一方。共产党失利后，她从国民党辞职于1927年前往莫斯科。抗日战争爆发后她与国民党关系和解，在姐妹的帮助下（尽管政见不同），她们共同努力试图促成国共两党合作抗日。
She remained in China after the Communists had taken over in 1949 and served as Vice President of the People's Republic of China until 1981. She devoted herself to the promotion of the welfare of children and women in China and represented China in forums attended by communist and third world nations. Two weeks before her death， she was admitted into the Chinese Communist Party， and was given the special title of Honorary President of the People's Republic of China.
1949年共产党执政之后，她一直留在大陆，并担任中华人民共和国副主席直到1981年。她投身于提升妇女儿童的权益事业，并多次代表中方出席共产主义者及第三世界国家参加的会议。在其去世前两周，她加入了中国共产党，并被授予了中华人民共和国名誉主席的荣誉称号。