One loved money, one loved her country and one loved power.
These are the three famous Soong Sisters. There are 2 excellent books on them. Jung Chang’s book was just released last week on 17 Oct 2019. Seagrave’s book was published in 1985.
The 3 sisters are Soong Ai Ling {Kind Age, born 1889}, Soong Ching Ling {Glorious Age, born 1893} and the youngest Soong May Ling {Beautiful Age, born 1898}.
Charlie Soong the father had chosen ‘Ling’ as part of the given name for all his three daughters. This is a typical nomenclature used by the Chinese to identify and differentiate cousins and family members of each generation. It helps to locate family members when the extended families are separated by famine or war or had migrated to Nanyang etc.
A movie that brilliantly captures the glamour and heartaches of this family is the 1997 movie titled The Soong Sisters starring Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh and Vivian Wu.