Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek
(7 of 8)
What Chinese officialdom needed, the Generalissimo & Mme Chiang had decided, was a big dose of the castor oil of Puritanism. The tablespoon with which they dished this out they called the New Life Movement, and with every ounce of Nanking's authority they dosed all China. Batch after batch of local mayors and magistrates were ordered to Nanking, drilled and exhorted there in the primary decencies—to stop wiping noses on sleeves, to stop taking bribes from litigants. They were warned that he who did not practice the new Puritanism might expect the worst—and this was no empty threat.
One unique wastrel against whom the New Life Movement struggled in vain was Chiang Wei-kuo. He is the son of a Japanese waitress & a Chinese official whom Generalissimo Chiang obliged by adopting the lad as his own son. In vain Chiang Wei-kuo was put under the direct control of Mme Chiang. She could do nothing with him. He was sent to Germany, last year suddenly appeared in London and forced the Chinese Delegation to the Coronation of King George VI to get him in on it and on all the best parties.
Despite nonsuccess with Chiang Wei-kuo, the New Life Movement otherwise was successfully enforced. The Generalissimo & Mme Chiang had individuals whom they trusted planted unobtrusively in all branches of the Government. These spies for Puritanism reported direct, and in Nanking not a few errant officials' careers were mysteriously broken.
Kidnapping, Year ago the Generalissimo was suddenly kidnapped and held prisoner at Sian (TIME, Dec. 21, 1936, et seq.). It was The Young Marshal Chang whose troops seized Chiang Kaishek. This kidnapping was promptly hijacked by Chinese forces allied with the Communists. At Nanking an extremely grave suspicion was abroad that Brother-in-Law T. V. Soong, disappointed in an ambition to become Premier of China, had put The Young Marshal, a "cured" ex-dope addict, up to seizing the Generalissimo. What followed proved that Chiang had remade China. It also gave the lie to generations of Chinese history. Instead of rushing to seize Chiang's power Chinese soldiers and officials from all parts of the country began a bombardment of telegrams demanding the release, rescue or ransoming of Chiang Kai-shek at any cost. It was the ultimate testimony that after centuries the Chinese people had at last found a Leader. It is too early to give credence to rumors that Banker Soong was obliged to unsnarl the kidnapping mistake with millions of dollars in bribes. The more popular, official version is that The Young Marshal Chang and the Communists were "greatly touched" by the contents of the Generalissimo's diary—which convinced them that he was not at heart pro Japanese. At all events the sequel to Sian was that Chiang's armies ceased to fight the Reds, and joyfully returned from Moscow Son Chiang Ching-kuo with a Russian Communist wife.
"Welcome, my son!" cried the Generalissimo, then indicating Mei-ling he added "and now you must meet your new mother."
"That is not my mother," retorted Chiang Ching-kuo, "and having paid my respects to you, father, I am going to my mother and your wife!"