T. V. Soong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tse-ven Soong, or Soong Tzu-wen (Chinese: 宋子文; pinyin: Sòng Zǐwén; 1894 - 1971), a prominent businessman and politician in the early 20th century Republic of China, had Charlie Soong as a father and the Soong sisters as siblings. His Christian name was Paul.

Born in Shanghai, T. V. Soong received his education at Harvard University and returned to China to engage in private business. In the Kuomintang-controlled government he served as governor of the Central Bank of China and minister of finance (1928 - 1931, 1932 - 1933); minister of foreign affairs (1942 - 1945); and president of the Executive Yuan (1945 - 1947). Soong left his legacy as head of the Chinese delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, April 1945 which later became the United Nations.

During the war years, he financed the "Flying Tigers" -- the American Voluntary Group that later was incorporated into the U.S. Air Force. Check background on Gen. Claire Chennault and you will find that he was listed as an employee of Bank of China. On this project he worked very closely with Mdme Chiang Kai-Shek.

With the defeat of the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War, he moved to New York and lived there until his death at the age of 77. Soong had a stroke and passed away in San Francisco while on business in April, 1971.

Soong was married to Chang Yüeh-ch'ia (張樂恰 Zhang Yueqia).