Song Ziwen
(1894–1971), Chinese Nationalist government official. Better known to Westerners as T. V. Soong, Song Ziwen was an official of the Chinese Nationalist government and a prominent financier. He was born in 1894 and educated at Harvard University, returning to China in 1923 to engage in private business. At the request of brother-in-law Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), he took over the role of financing the Guomindang (Chinese Nationalist Party) from his father. To this end, he established the Central Bank of China in 1924. The bank became the government treasury in 1928 when Song was appointed minister of finance by another brother-in-law, Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975). He was devoted to modernizing Chinese financial and fiscal systems during his tenure (1928–1931, 1932–1933). During the second Sino-Japanese conflict (1937–1945), he became minister of foreign affairs in 1942. When the war was over in 1945, he became prime minister (president of the Executive Yuan) and served in this position until 1947. Just prior to the Communist takeover of China in 1949, he moved to the United States, where he remained active in business, banking, and the China Lobby until his death in 1971.
Further Reading
Coble, Parks M., Jr. (1986) The Shanghai Capitalists and the Nationalist Government, 1927–1937. Harvard East Asian Monographs, no. 94. 2d ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Seagrave, Sterling. (1985) The Soong Dynasty. New York: Harper & Row.
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