China: Song Ailing (Soong Ai-ling, Nancy Soong, 1890-1973)

Song Ailing, the eldest of the Soong sisters, was the wife of H. H. Kung (Kung Hsiang-Hsi), who was the richest man in the early 20th century Republic of China. Born in Shanghai, Soong arrived in the United States at the Port of San Francisco, CA on June 30, 1904 aboard the SS Korea at the age of 14 to begin her education at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. She returned to China in 1909 after her graduation. In late 1911, she worked as a secretary for Sun Yat-sen, a job later succeeded by her sister, Soong Ching-ling. She met her future husband, Kung Hsiang Hsi, in 1913, and married the following year in Yokohama. After marrying, Soong taught English for a while and engaged in child welfare work. She went to the United States in the 1940s, and died at the age of 83 on October 18, 1973 in New York.