Soong Ching-ling, Soong May-ling: Negotiating Dresses and Politics in Modern Shanghai, 1913-49

The essay is dedicated to the sartorial choices of Soong Ching-ling and Soong May-ling, who were born into an influential and affluent Shanghai family in 1893 and 1898, respectively. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Soong Ching-ling and Soong May-ling took an active part in shaping and promoting the very different narratives of modern China, both through their marriages to the two politically most powerful men in the Chinese interwar period, and through their own politically motivated activities. Soong Ching-ling married the first President of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen, and Soong May-ling his ideological enemy Chiang Kai-shek.

The essay focuses on the relationship between the sisters’ respective political beliefs and their respective styles of dress, in order to explore the notions of cosmopolitanism, national identity, gender and femininity in the interwar period.