Two sons of the first president of Taiwan: Wehrmacht officer Jiang Weiguo and Uralmash officer Jiang Jingguo

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Chiang Kai-shek, a Chinese politician of the first half of the 20th century, had two sons. They were completely different, and after that, at the behest of their father, both went to study in other countries. The elder went to Moscow, the younger to Munich. Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Ching-kuo lived in countries with different political foundations and exactly opposite ideologies. One denied his father, the other was always obedient to him. But this did not separate them on opposite sides of the barricades.

Two sons

The future president of the Republic of China preferred to be called Jiang Zhongzheng. He was 24 years old when in the Chinese city of Fenghua in 1910 his eldest and only son was born, who received the name Jingguo at birth. With his wife Mao Fumei, he divorced almost immediately after the birth of their first child. However, this marriage was concluded at one time at the insistence of the politician's mother, when the groom was only 15 years old, while the bride had already celebrated her 20th birthday.

In 1916, when Jiang Zhongzheng was in forced exile in Tokyo, his second son Jiang Weiguo was born. The very story of Weigo's birth is shrouded in a mass of secrets and conjectures. He was considered both the son of a Japanese woman and Chinese journalist Tai Jitao, and the illegitimate child of Jiang Zhongzheng himself and his Japanese lover. Weigo himself only said in 1988 that he was adopted.

Jiang jingguo

The boy was 15 years old when, on the instructions of his father, he was sent to study in the Soviet Union. Here he was warmly received into the family of Anna Ilyinichna Ulyanova-Elizarova, the elder sister of Vladimir Lenin. In the Soviet Union, Jiang Ching-kuo lived under the name of Nikolai Elizarov.

Two years after his arrival in Moscow, Jiang Zhongzheng's eldest son became a citizen of the Land of the Soviets, and three years later he became a candidate for membership in the CPSU (b). He graduated from the Communist University of the Working People of China, then the Military-Political Academy and the University of the Working People of the East.

He worked as a simple mechanic at the Dynamo plant, later taking the position of deputy director. He took part in collectivization, and in 1932 he came to Uralmash.

He began his career at the plant as a simple worker, later became a technician, then a foreman and, finally, having served as a deputy head of the department for personnel, he headed the plant's circulation. In 1936 he became a member of the party and a deputy of the district council.

Jiang Ching-kuo was forced to publicly renounce his father, who began to fight the communists in his homeland, but this did not help him. At the beginning of 1937, Nikolai Elizarov was arrested, and already at the end of March of the same year, he and his wife Faina Vakhreva (Jiang Fanliang) returned to China. Jiang Ching-kuo has had many trials. He spent 12 difficult years in the Soviet Union. Often he had to starve and suffer from the cold. However, over the years, Jiang Zhongzheng's eldest son has acquired invaluable experience and strong immunity to communist ideas.

Since the flight of his father and his government to Taiwan, he served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of China, dealing with the suppression of pro-communist insurgencies. Three years after his father's death, he became President of the Republic of China.

He remained in history as the creator of Taiwan's economic miracle. During the reign of Jiang Ching-kuo, the well-being of the people increased, and the government became democratic and open. Until the end of his days, Jiang Ching-kuo remained an implacable fighter against communism, considering it the greatest threat to the world. He passed away in 1988.

Jiang Weiguo

Jiang Zhongzheng and his adopted son Weiguo had a very warm relationship. A high-ranking father, when it was especially difficult for him, called his youngest son and spent a lot of time with him. The boy grew up lively and restless, but pleased his father with his cheerfulness and openness.

As a child, he attended Shanghai school, after which he became a student at the physics department at the University of Suzhou, where he also studied political science and economics.

In 1937, Jiang Zhongzheng decided to send his son to study military affairs in Munich. After graduating from the military academy, he additionally studied in the division of the Alpine riflemen, had the right to wear their distinctive sign - edelweiss. In March 1938, when Austria was joining Germany, he commanded a tank, and in 1939, during Operation Weiss (the German invasion of Poland), he took part in the campaign with the rank of lieutenant.

In 1940 he returned to his homeland, taking up the post of platoon commander in the Chinese troops under the command of General Hu Zongnan. At the same time, he met his first wife Shi Jingyi.

He took part in the Japanese War of Resistance, during which he managed to rise to the rank of battalion commander, and after the victory was awarded the rank of major general. Then he became deputy commander and chief of staff of the armored forces of China. In 1949, together with his father, he fled to Taiwan after the defeat of the troops of the Kuomintang party.

In Taiwan, Jiang Zhongzheng's youngest son was promoted to Colonel General of the Ground Forces, and became Commander of the Armored Forces and Chief of the Academy of the Armed Forces. He wrote several works on history and military affairs.

In 1953, his wife died in childbirth. Their child could not be saved either. In memory of his first wife, Shi Jingyi, Jiang Weiguo, who was grieving at the loss, created an elementary and an English school, as well as a park.

The commander's second wife, Qiu Ai-lun, whom he married in Japan in 1957, gave birth to his only son five years after the marriage.

Jiang Weiguo maintained a healthy optimism and sense of humor throughout his life. When his brother took over as President of the Republic of China, Weigo chuckled good-naturedly at his promotion from son of president to brother of president.

Two years after the death of his brother, Jiang Weiguo tried to enter the government of the Republic of China, but was defeated in the fight against Li Denghui, the next president of Taiwan. After a high-profile political scandal over the death of the maid Li Hongmei and the discovery of several dozen weapons in Jiang Weiguo's house, the political career of Jiang Zhongzheng's youngest son was put to death.

Jiang Weiguo, like his older brother Jiang Jingguo, remained faithful to the work that his father started until the end of his days.

The history of Taiwan is inextricably linked with the history of China. The Lantern Festival is one of the main Chinese holidays; at this time, the entire Celestial Empire on the face of our planet becomes much brighter. Meanwhile, the rich and beautiful island of Taiwan, perhaps, celebrates the lantern festival brightest of all.