Yesterday I talked about the architecture of Zhongshan Mausoleum.  It happened almost at same time that someone emailed me the following link regarding the brief biography of Madam Chiang Kai-shek.  The only connection of both stories in Nanjing era is Chiang's residence which is located at the foothill of Mt. Zhong, not far away from the mausoleum.  The residence, a luxurious mansion, now is nicknamed by mainlanders as "Mei-liang Palace".  Certainly, I paid a visit to the "palace" when I returned from Zhongshan Mausoleum.  Perhaps I didn't have enough time to take a good look of it, so it impressed me not that much.  Now you can view it from the photos thereof.

Most parts of the biography focuses  on Madam Chiang's great personal charisma, especially on her feats in Sino-America relationship during China's resisting war against Japan.  Well, as a graduate from an American top-notch, "aristocratic" girls' college, her elegant presence and English could easily conguer Americans.  She's got great savoir faire alright, but then America badly needed China to hang on in order to defeat Japan, that had been the most important cause that she acquired a remarkable success.  In other word, her personal success had been mainly the concomitant of Sino-America cooperation in the war.  That also explained why she wasn't charismatic any more when America decided to forsake Chiang and KMT during China's civil war in late 40's. 

Incidentally, I recall that Ms. Wu, A-bian's wife, once said she is greater than Madam Chiang because she is a "democratic" first lady.  What a joke it was! 

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5MDAxNzA2NA==&mid=2654860269&idx=1&sn=d42f33093babad9d536546746b31c73a&chksm=bd8260aa8af5e9bc316c8e7aabf79b905c19b122349d56a89943f213258aa0324649d0d38ede&mpshare=1&scene=5&srcid=1028AaHBVVI1bL0J6QAsxO3o