The Soongs' Saga
The Divinity Library has a new exhibit featuring Charles Soong, one of Vanderbilt's Alums from the 1880's. Mr. Soong and his family are often regarded as "republican China's first family."
His daughter Ch'ing-ling married Sun Yat-sen. Another daughter married Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek. The third daughter married the Chinese finance minister (said to be the richest man in the world). One of Soong's sons became the Chinese prime minister, another was chairman of the bank of Canton, and the third became an international financier.
Charlotte Lew enlisted her considerable artistic skills and knowledge of Chinese history to create a memorable exhibit that is housed in the six display cases in the Divinity library. A Chinese scroll, refurbished from a scroll given to Charlotte by her father when she married, provides the centerpiece of the exhibit.
(images courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections and University Archives)