Song Meiling studied in the United States at the age of nine, and returned to Shanghai at the age of nineteen. Mills was Song Meiling's best friend when she was studying at Wellesley Women's College in the United States. In 1917, Song Meiling graduated and returned to Shanghai. However, her hometown made her feel like a foreign land, and Mills became the object of her emotional relief. Until Mills died in 1987, they were very close. Mills' will stated that all her correspondence with Song Meiling should be given to Wellesley College, but it should not be made public before Song Meiling's death.
Song Meiling passed away in p>23, and the following year, Wellesley College compiled and published this letter file.
I went back to Song Meiling and studied Chinese and calligraphy again. At that time, Song Meiling, like most girls, thought most about love and marriage.
There was a time when Song Meiling liked a Dutch architect, VanEiveigh. Song described that he was "dizzy" when he saw him. Later, VanEiveigh proposed to Song, but the Song family was mad when they learned about it. "The family looked down on him because he was a foreigner, as if he were a barbarian." Song Meiling, whose relationship was frustrated, once gave up on herself, saying, "Since I can't marry someone I really like, either I won't marry, or I will marry for fame and fortune.". She said to Mills, "I know you think I love money, but aren't all men like me now?"
After returning to Shanghai, Song Meiling completely lost his confidence and freedom when he was in the United States. Although Song Meiling has a prominent family background, he is still weighing the issues of love and material things. She said in a letter, "sometimes I think, if I marry a husband without money, how can I raise a child?" But I thought, if you marry only for money, how can you have the courage to maintain a marriage without any feelings until one day the money is gone? " Her final conclusion is: I will never get married without money, but I am sure I will not get married for money.
One year after Song Meiling returned to Shanghai, he still mentioned the Dutch architect Van Eiveigh in his letter to Mills. She said that Van Eiveigh wanted to come to Shanghai to find her, but her family strongly opposed it, so the hope of marrying him was completely dashed. She also had a big fight with her family. "They are worried that if he comes, I will marry him, and they are really right. I really want to fall on your sofa cushion and cry. "
Tai Shan said that Song Meiling was never a person who resisted the authority of the family. On December 1, 1927, 28-year-old Song Meiling married Chiang Kai-shek, the most powerful man in China at that time, and became the "first lady". This marriage was also regarded as a political marriage in which power and money were traded.