Chiang Fang-liang
蔣方良
Фаина Вахрева
Chiang in 1944
First Lady of the Republic of China
In role
20 May 1978 – 13 January 1988
PresidentChiang Ching-kuo
Preceded byLiu Chi-chun
Succeeded byTseng Wen-hui
Personal details
Born
Faina Ipat'evna Vakhreva

(1916-05-15)15 May 1916
near Orsha, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died15 December 2004(2004-12-15) (aged 88)
Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Resting placeDaxi Presidential Burial Place
Touliao, Taiwan
NationalitySoviet (until 1937)
Chinese (1937–1949)
Taiwanese (1949–2004)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1935; died 1988)​
Children
OccupationFirst Lady of the Republic of China
Chiang Fang-liang
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese蔣方良
Russian name
RussianФаина Ипатьевна Вахрева
RomanizationFaina Ipatyevna Vakhreva

Faina Chiang Fang-liang (Chinese: 蔣方良; pinyin: Jiǎng Fāngliáng; born Faina Ipatyevna Vakhreva; Russian: Фаина Ипатьевна Вахрева; Belarusian: Фаіна Іпацьеўна Вахрава; 15 May 1916 – 15 December 2004) was the First Lady of the Republic of China on Taiwan from 1978 to 1988 as the wife of President Chiang Ching-kuo.

Early life

On 15 May 1916, Faina was born near Orsha, part of the Russian Empire, then part of the Soviet Union, now in Belarus. Faina was orphaned at a young age and raised by her older sister Anna.[1][2]

Career

At age 16, as a member of the Soviet Union's Communist Youth League, Faina worked at the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant in Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR, where she met Chiang Ching-kuo, her supervisor.[3][4] On 15 March 1935, aged 18, Faina married him.[2][3]

Move to Taiwan

With Chiang Ching-kuo and Chiang Hsiao-wen in Gannan Prefecture, where CCK was serving as commissioner (c.1940s)

In December 1936, Joseph Stalin granted Chiang's return to China.[2] By another account, however, the couple fled fearing Chiang's arrest.[5] After the couple was received by Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling in Hangzhou, they traveled to the Chiang home in Xikou, Zhejiang, where they held a second marriage ceremony.[4] Fang-liang stayed behind to live with Chiang Ching-kuo's mother, Mao Fumei. She was assigned a tutor to learn Mandarin Chinese, but she learned the local Ningbo dialect of Wu Chinese instead.[1][2] She reportedly got along well with Mao Fumei and did her own housework.[2][4]

As First lady

When Chiang Ching-kuo became President, Fang-liang rarely performed the traditional roles of First Lady, partly due to her lack of formal education; her husband also encouraged her not to get into politics.[6] She largely stayed out of the public spotlight,[1][3] and little was ever known of her in an anti-communist atmosphere in the government. She never returned to Russia, and traveled abroad only three times in the last 50 years of her life, all to visit her children and their families. In 1992, she received a visit from a Belarusian delegation.[4][5]

Children

On 14 December 1935, their first son Chiang Hsiao-wen was born in the Soviet Union.[3] Each of her three younger children were born in different parts of China, reflecting turbulent years as an official of the country.[4] Faina had four children:

All her children were sent to study in foreign universities[4] - Hsiao-wu to West Germany and the remaining children to the United States. All three sons died shortly after Ching-kuo's death in 1988: Hsiao-wen in 1989, Hsiao-wu in 1991, and Hsiao-yung in 1996.[3] Fang-liang then lived in the suburbs of Taipei. She received occasional visitors, such as some prominent politicians who went to pay their respects every few years. In the Taiwanese media, if she ever received coverage, she was depicted as a virtuous wife who never complained and endured her loneliness with dignity.[1][2][7]

Death and funeral

Chiang died of respiratory and cardiac failure stemming from lung cancer at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital on 15 December 2004, at the age of 88 (or 89 according to East Asian age reckoning).[1][7][8][9]

Chiang's funeral was held on 27 December 2004, with President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu in attendance.[10] Kuomintang politicians Wang Jin-pyng, Lin Cheng-chih, P. K. Chiang, and Ma Ying-jeou draped her casket with the Kuomintang party flag, and Kuomintang party elders Lee Huan, Hau Pei-tsun, Chiu Chuang-huan, and Shih Chi-yang draped her casket with the ROC national flag.[11][12] Chiang was cremated and her ashes taken to her husband's temporary mausoleum in Touliao, Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City). They were buried together in the Wuchih Mountain Military Cemetery.[1]

Family of Chiang Fang-liang
Soong May‑ling
宋美齡		Mao Fumei
毛福梅		Chiang Kai‑shek
蔣介石		Yao Yecheng
姚冶誠
Chen Jieru
陳潔如
Faina Chiang Fang‑liang
蔣方良		Chiang Ching-kuo
蔣經國		Chang Ya‑juo
章亞若
(mistress)		Shih Chin‑i
石靜宜		Chiang Wei‑kuo
蔣緯國
(adopted)		Chiu Ju‑hsüeh
丘如雪		Chen Yao‑kuang
陳瑶光
(adopted)
Alan Chiang Hsiao‑wen
蔣孝文		Amy Chiang Hsiao‑chang
蔣孝章		Alex Chiang Hsiao‑wu
蔣孝武		Eddie Chiang Hsiao‑yung
蔣孝勇		Winston Chang Hsiao‑tzu
章孝慈		John Chiang Hsiao‑yen
蔣孝嚴		Chiang Hsiao‑kang
蔣孝剛
Nancy Xu Nai‑jin
徐乃錦		Yu Yang‑ho
俞揚和		Wang Zhang‑shi
汪長詩		Michelle Tsai Hui‑mei
蔡惠媚		Elizabeth Fang Chi‑yi
方智怡		Chao Chung‑te
趙申德		Helen Huang Mei‑lun
黃美倫		Wang Yi‑hui
王倚惠
Theodore Yu Tsu‑sheng
俞祖聲		Chang Ching‑sung
章勁松		Chang Yo‑chu
章友菊		Vivian Chiang Hui‑lan
蔣惠蘭		Chiang Hui‑yün
蔣惠筠		Chiang Wan‑an
蔣萬安
Chiang Yo‑mei
蔣友梅		Alexandra Chiang Yo‑lan
蔣友蘭		Johnathan Chiang Yo‑sung
蔣友松		Demos Chiang Yo‑bo
蔣友柏		Edward Chiang Yo‑chang
蔣友常		Andrew Chiang Yo‑ching
蔣友青		Chiang Yo‑chüan
蔣友娟		Chiang Yo‑chieh
蔣友捷
Notes
    • Dashed lines represent marriages
    • Dotted lines represent extra-marital relationships and adoptions
    • Solid lines represent descendants
    Sources

    See also

    References

    Citations

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tsai, Wen-Ting; Tsai, Julius (January 2005). "Farewell, Faina — Chiang Fang-liang Dies Aged 90". Taiwan Panorama. Taipei, Taiwan. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wu, Pei-shih (May 18, 2003). "Forgotten first lady served as model traditional wife". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wen, Stephanie (December 16, 2004). "Chiang Fang-liang remembered". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wang, Jaifeng; Hughes, Christopher (January 1998). "Cover Story — Love to Fang-Liang – the Chiang Family Album". Taiwan Panorama. Taipei, Taiwan. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
    5. 1 2 Yu, Susan (June 16, 1992). "Mensk officials meet Chiang Fang-liang Chiang Ching-kuo's widow breaks precedent to receive countrymen". Taiwan Today (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Taipei, Taiwan. Archived from the original on 2014-11-07. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
    6. ↑ "The lonely widow of Huaihai Rd in sealed memory". China Daily. Beijing. January 12, 2005. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
    7. 1 2 Yiu, Cody (December 16, 2004). "A sad life ends for Chiang Fang-liang". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
    8. ↑ "Faina Chiang dies at 88 in Taipei". China Daily. Beijing. December 15, 2004. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
    9. ↑ "President Chen pays tribute to former first lady Faina Chiang". China Post. Taipei. December 17, 2004. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
    10. ↑ "Nation bids farewell to former first lady Faina Chiang". China Post. Taipei. December 27, 2004. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
    11. ↑ Chuang, Jimmy (December 25, 2004). "Faina Chiang's funeral will be held on Monday". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
    12. ↑ "Faina Chiang's funeral held in Taiwan". sina.com. December 27, 2004. Retrieved November 4, 2014.

    Bibliography

    • 周玉蔻 [Zhou, Yu-kou] (1993). 蔣方良與蔣經國 [Chiang Fang-liang and Chiang Ching-kuo]. 台北市: 麥田出版有限公司. ISBN 9789577081070.
    • O'Neill, Mark (2020). China's Russian Princess: The silent wife of Chiang Ching-kuo. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Company. ISBN 978-9620446153.
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