Soong Ai-ling

Soong Ai-ling (; July 15, 1889 – October 20, 1973), legally Soong E-ling or Eling Soong, Christian name Nancy, was a Chinese businesswoman, the eldest of the Soong sisters and the wife of H. H. Kung (Kung Hsiang-Hsi), who was the richest man in the early 20th century Republic of China.

Life Born in Shanghai, she attended McTyeire School beginning at age 5. Soong Ai-ling arrived at the Port of San Francisco, California on June 30, 1904, aboard the SS Korea at the age of 14. She attended Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Soong returned to China in 1909 after her graduation. In late 1911, she worked as a secretary for Sun Yat-sen, a job later taken by her sister, Soong Ching-ling, who later became Madame Sun Yat-sen.

Soong Ai-ling met her future husband, Kung Hsiang Hsi, in 1913, and they married the following year in Yokohama. After marrying, Soong taught English for a while and engaged in child welfare work. She is credited with being the most forceful of her siblings. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek, head of the Kuomintang, was smitten with her sister, Meiling, but the family did not think him worthy. Ailing is said to have negotiated the marriage : Chiang would study the Bible; Ailing's husband, H.H. Kung, would become Chiang's financier; and her younger brother, T.V. Soong, would pressure bankers and industrialists to finance Chiang's regime.

In 1936, she founded the Sandai Company (also called Sanbu Company) and became a successful and immensely rich businesswoman in her own right. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, she was active in the Committee of the National Friends of the Wounded Soldiers and the National Refugee Children's Association, and chair of the local Hong Kong section of the Committee of the National Friends of the Wounded Soldiers.

Children Source: Kung Ling-i (daughter) 孔令儀 Kung Ling-kan (son) 孔令侃 Kung Ling-chun, also known as Kung Ling-wei (daughter) 孔令俊 Kung Ling-chie (son) 孔令傑, also known as Louis C. Kung, was later an American oil executive. He married actress Debra Paget in 1964; they divorced in 1980. The couple had one son, Gregory Teh-chi Kung (1964-1996) 孔德基. Louis C. Kung died in 1996 in Houston, Texas.

Media portrayal In the 1997 Hong Kong movie The Soong Sisters, Soong was portrayed by actress Michelle Yeoh.