Soong sisters

The Soong sisters were three prominent women in modern Chinese history. All three sisters, from eldest to youngest, Soong Ai-ling (宋靄齡), Soong Ching-ling (宋慶齡), and Soong Mei-ling (宋美齡), married powerful men, respectively, H. H. Kung, Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek. Along with their husbands, they played major roles in China's politics and foreign relations in the early 20th century. Of Hakka descent, with ancestral roots in Wenchang, Hainan, the sisters were born to American-educated Methodist minister Charlie Soong, who made a fortune in banking and printing, and Ni Kwei-tseng, also a Methodist who came from an Episcopalian family. The sisters were raised as Christians in Shanghai and educated in the United States, where they all attended Wesleyan College; Mei-ling, however, left Wesleyan and eventually graduated from Wellesley College. Their three brothers were all high-ranking officials in the Republic of China government, one of whom was T. V. Soong. Their life stories have been summarized in a saying: "One loved money, one loved power, one loved her country", referring to Ai-ling, Mei-ling, and Ching-ling in that order.