--- description: Soong Mei-ling is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century. title: Soong Mei-ling: 100 Women of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b6767c9d242bdd9/698a0b10929fadbe9cbf5c8b/social-1937-Soong-Mei-Ling.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 1937: Soong Mei-ling Mar 5, 2020 11:34 AM CUT  S.J. Woolf by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2020 11:34 AM CUT [Soong Mei-ling](https://time.com/5710461/jung-chang-china-history-big-sister-book/ "undefined") is as much an architect of modern China as any communist revolutionary. The Wellesley-educated wife of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek was instrumental in winning U.S. support for China’s war against Japan (1937–1945), becoming the first Chinese national to address both houses of Congress. At home, she was seen as power-hungry but, through her New Life Movement, helped foster an upright Chinese identity in opposition to supposed Western decadence, prefiguring some of the ideological zealotry of the Cultural Revolution. In 1937, TIME named her [Person of the Year](https://time.com/3614128/person-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") alongside her husband, declaring, “No woman in the West holds so great a position as Mme Chiang Kai-shek holds in China.” _—Charlie Campbell_ --- _This article is part of_ [_100 Women of the Year_](https://time.com/100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined")_, TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Read more_ [_about the project_](https://time.com/5793734/time-100-women-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined")_, explore the_ [_100 covers_](https://time.com/5793732/time-100-women-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") _and sign up for our_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=article-woy-footer "undefined") _for more._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5793488/soong-mei-ling-100-women-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5793488/soong-mei-ling-100-women-of-the-year/"},"headline":"1937: Soong Mei-ling","datePublished":"2020-03-05T11:34:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:20:31.306Z","description":"Soong Mei-ling is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century.","url":"https://time.com/5793488/soong-mei-ling-100-women-of-the-year/","keywords":["Women of the Year"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b6767c9d242bdd9/698a0b10929fadbe9cbf5c8b/social-1937-Soong-Mei-Ling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b6767c9d242bdd9/698a0b10929fadbe9cbf5c8b/social-1937-Soong-Mei-Ling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SOCIAL - Women of the Year: 1937 Soong Mei Ling","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5793488/soong-mei-ling-100-women-of-the-year/","name":"1937: Soong Mei-ling"}}]}] ```