{"product_id":"chiang-kaisheks-secret-past-the-memoir-of-his-second-wife-chen-chiehju-used","title":"Chiang Kaishek's Secret Past: The Memoir Of His Second Wife, Ch'en Chiehju,Used","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis engrossing memoir tells the fascinating story of one of China's great leaders during the Nationalist revolution of the 1920s and of the woman who paid a staggering price so that he could attain his ambition. The tale begins in 1919 when the thirtytwoyearold Chiang Kaishek met the nave thirteenyearold whom he would call Ch'en Chiehju. He pursued her relentlessly for two years until she finally agreed to marry her brash and forceful suitor. Chiehju was at her husband's side constantly for the seven years of their marriage, which enabled her to chronicle with immediacy and vivid detail his singleminded pursuit of power in the Kuomintang (KMT).So explosive were her revelations that the KMT used threats and bribes to block U.S. publication plans in the 1960s. Now, her longsuppressed memoir finally reveals Chiang Kaishek's human side, which has been shrouded in myth. Chiang Kaishek emerges as a lustful, illtempered, quarrelsome, stubborn, and boundlessly ambitious man. In pursuit of his goals, he abandoned the young wife he seemingly loved to make a politically expedient alliance with Soong Meiling, now famed as Madame Chiang. Despite his betrayal, Chiehju's love for her husband is clearly evident. She paints here a stirring portrait of their personal life as well as of the infighting and intrigue that marked her husband's early political career. Above all, her story conveys a keen sense of the texture of upperclass life in the China of that period, a quality academic studies rarely capture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Routledge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46814637064437,"sku":"SONG0813318246","price":81.03,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/5804\/8501\/files\/81pdjUvGM0L.jpg?v=1751924621","url":"https:\/\/ergodebooks.com\/products\/chiang-kaisheks-secret-past-the-memoir-of-his-second-wife-chen-chiehju-used","provider":"Ergodebooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}