A poster of the Soong Ching Ling & the New China Special Exhibition. 

Soong Ching Ling, one of the founders of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), passed away in 1981 but her work to support the revolution in China and create a network of loyal friends worldwide for the PRC lives on through the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF). Soong’s life was defined by the struggle for a new China and her prolific writings and speeches have become important documents in Chinese history.

A collection of these as well as historical photographs and artifacts are part of a special exhibition on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, highlighting her contributions. Organized by the foundation, it is being held in her former residence in Beijing, where she lived and worked for 18 years.

Li Bin, vice chairperson of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairperson of the CSCLF, attended the opening ceremony with representatives of Soong Ching Ling’s good friends. Shen Beili, vice chairperson of the CSCLF, gave a speech at the ceremony. More than 100 people attended the opening ceremony and visited the exhibition.

The exhibition is based on the book The Struggle for New China, a collection of articles, speeches, and statements by Soong between 1927 and 1952. Late Chinese leader Zhou Enlai inscribed the title and Chairman Mao Zedong expressed his “great pleasure” on receiving a copy as a gift. Soong’s lofty ideals are a precious spiritual asset of the Chinese people.

In the preface to the book, she wrote the following, “The Chinese Revolution has been unique in many respects and the more that is written about it, the more benefit can be derived from its experience... Hoping also that it would be useful to students in their research of this period in the Chinese people’s struggle.”

Soong, who was married to Sun Yat-sen, the national hero who led the revolution that ended the imperial rule in China, continued his work after his death by supporting the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic. She dedicated The Struggle for New China to “those heroes of all the peoples who want peace and peaceful construction.”

The exhibition opens with a photograph of the First National Congress of the Kuomintang, the nationalist party. Sun Yat-sen presided over the Congress held in Guangzhou in south China in January 1924. The Congress established the three major policies of “alliance with the Soviet Union, cooperation with the Communist Party of China, and advancing the interests of the workers and peasants,” which presented a unified opposition to the invading Japanese army though for a short time.

After Sun Yat-sen’s death in 1925, the two contenders for the leadership of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei, launched purges, arbitrarily arresting and killing communists and other revolutionaries. In protest, Soong issued a statement on July 14, 1927, saying they were violating Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary principles and policies. The statement is the first piece of the exhibition.

In 1927, Soong along with Albert Einstein, Maxim Gorky, Romain Rolland, Henri Barbusse and others, initiated the World Committee Against Imperialist War to fight imperialism and colonial oppression. On April 1, 1933, she published an article, “To the Chinese People – A Call to Rally to the Protection of Imprisoned Revolutionaries,” demanding the release of the people arrested by the Kuomintang. Subsequently, she went to the German Consulate in Shanghai with her friends to condemn the German persecution of Jews and progressive Germans.

On September 30, 1933, the Far East Conference of the World Committee against Imperialist War was convened in Shanghai, with Soong presiding over the meeting. In 1937, the Battle of Shanghai was fought between the nationalists and the Japanese army, with the latter capturing Shanghai. In November 1937, Soong issued a statement on cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, calling on the nation to unite against Japanese invaders. Two years later, she wrote “When China Wins,” which was published by the New Masses magazine in New York. She attended the first plenary session of the CPPCC on September 21, 1949.

People’s Daily published “On Peaceful Coexistence” on June 1, 1951. In October that year, the China Reconstructs magazine was launched, which later was renamed China Today. The first issue published an article by Soong, “Welfare Work and World Peace.” The last piece of the exhibition is her 1952 article “For Peace in Asia, the Pacific Regions, and the World.”

The works not only accurately and deeply showcase her thoughts and practices during this time but also relate to the collective memory of the country, the spiritual accumulation of the nation, and the inheritance of culture.

Literature records history, and history is transmitted through literature. Through this exhibition, the audience experiences the emotional journey of Soong Ching Ling during that period and understands her spiritual world and her strong sense of responsibility and mission that influenced the Chinese revolution.

The exhibition also includes a peace dove brooch belonging to Soong, the cheongsam she wore during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and Sun Yat-sen’s suit. The day the exhibition opened was also the day in 1949 when Soong Ching Ling was elected as vice chairperson of the Central People’s Government of the PRC. The exhibition will run till December 31.