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A famous family of political connections, a famous garden preserved for posterity
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AT the dawn of the 20th century, when municipal amenities in Shanghai were undergoing modernization, a land rush overran traditional farm areas, turning many into stately garden villas.
Some of these villas and gardens, steeped in historical value, have been meticulously preserved.
On a modest stretch of old Seymour Road (now Shaanxi Road N.) were distinguished residences like the Chen Bingqian House, Rongs’ Residence, He Dong Garden, Xu Chongzhi’s former home and Dong Haoyun’s old house.
But none is perhaps more influential than the garden of the Soong family.
Tucked away at 369 Shaanxi Road N., the house was built in 1908 with a quintessential English garden villa behind a fence of bamboo. Originally built by a British man, this remarkable property changed hands several times over a decade before being acquired by the prominent Soong family of Shanghai in 1918.
Born into a poor farm family in the southern province of Hainan in 1861, Charlie Soong, the patriarch of the family, led a life marked by early hardships. His father had to send him overseas to seek a better life. From Java Island to Boston and later Durham in the United States, Soong experienced a nomadic youth.
By 1886, when he returned to Shanghai, he had become a Methodist missionary. He married Ni Kwei-tseng and started his own family. But disenchanted with the racial arrogance and prejudice of the American church, Soong quit missionary work to embark on a successful business career. He founded a publishing house and a flour mill, ensuring prosperity for his family.
Soong became a staunch revolutionary and a close comrade of Sun Yat-sen, who was the first provisional president of the Republic of China and is considered the “father of modern China.” After the success of the 1911 Revolution that brought Sun to power, Soong’s prominence grew.
He had three sons and three daughters. The daughters, all famed for their beauty, married powerful men. The eldest, Ai-ling, married H.H. Kung, China’s richest man and finance minister. The middle daughter Ching Ling, married Sun Yat-sen. The youngest daughter, Mei-ling, married Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang party.
In 1918, following the death of father Soong, the family home on Huaihai Road M. felt overwhelmingly large for Ni and her daughter Mei-ling, who described it as “a sense of being lost and in constant reminder of their father.” Consequently, the family decided to move to the Seymour Road residence.
To Mei-ling, the new home was nothing short of marvelous. In a letter to her best friend, she described the intricate teak carvings on the doors, double-layered floors, a splendidly tiled kitchen and a wonderfully heated room using tiled pipes.
The ground floor featured a medium-sized foyer, a washroom, a smoking room and a large dining room with an ornately carved ceiling, along with a pantry and kitchen managed by a male butler.
The second floor had three bedrooms, a large living room, a square hall and a spacious bathroom, not to mention two large dressing rooms — rare luxuries in Shanghai at the time.
The third floor, home to a rooftop garden, was where they spent lazy afternoons.
The garden in front of the house was expansive and beautiful, complete with a prayer pavilion. During winter, the heated room served as a chapel.
Mei-ling lived at this garden villa for nearly a decade until December 1927. After her marriage, Mei-ling moved out of the villa. Following the death of mother Ni in 1931, the property remained under the care of the middle daughter Ching Ling. She transformed the estate into a hub for the charitable works of the China Welfare Institute, which she founded.
In March 1949, as the People’s Liberation Army neared Shanghai and the Kuomintang forces prepared defensive positions in the suburbs, many of Shanghai’s children were left homeless. Ching Ling opened the gates of the garden, sheltering more than 100 children.
After the liberation of Shanghai, she established a nursery for the China Welfare Institute at the garden.
Throughout the years, Soong Garden underwent several renovations and changes in management.
In 2004, it was designated as one of the outstanding historical sites in Shanghai and was upgraded to a cultural relic in 2014.
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