Soong, Ts-liang 宋子良 (1899-1987)

The life of a less well-known member of the Soong family: a banker who dominated the economics of China under the Nationalist Government.

Source of Cover Page Photo: The Commodore Yearbook in 1921.

In 1899, Soong Ts-Liang was born into one of the most wealthy and prestigious families in China. His father, Charlie Soong, was among the first group of Chinese students to go overseas to receive a higher education. By the time Ts-Liang was born, Charlie Soong had become a successful businessman. Later, Charlie supported the revolution of Sun Yat-Sen, raising the family's political stakes.

Picture of the Soong Family ,1917. Soong Ts-Liang is in the fourth row, on the left. Charlie Soong is in the third row, in front of Soong Ts-Liang. Source: Song Shi San Xiong Di: San Ge Yang Bo Shi Yu Minguo Jing Ji.

Arrival at San Francisco before heading to Nashville on Sep. 11th, 1919. Source: Ancestry.com

In 1931, George Sokolsky, an American radio broadcaster for the National Association of Manufacturers based in Shanghai and New York, inquired about the Soong family from Vanderbilt Alumni Association Secretary Hill Turner.

Correspondence between George Sokolsky and Alumni Secretary Hill Turner in August 1931. Source: VU Archive

Although the document of George's initial inquiry was lost, we found Secretary Hill's reply, in which he first confirmed the death of Charlie Soong, Ts-liang's prominent father, in 1929.

Therefore, it's plausible that Ts-liang wasn't George's first choice to interview. After all, George stayed in China for 14 years until 1935 and was, presumably, an expert on Asian matters, with basic knowledge about the most influential figures in the Soong family. However, both Hill and George couldn't reach Soong Ts-liang, whose mailing address in Shanghai was invalid.

In 1938, an article entitled "Speaking of First Families: Vanderbilt Training Molded Founder of Soong 'Dynasty,'" written by W.W. McClanahan, was published in the Nashville Tennessean. The newspaper hardly discussed Soong Ts-liang except to say that, like his father, Charlie Soong, he also attended Vanderbilt and, like his older brother T.V. Soong, had a similar interest in economics and finance. Ironically, passages dedicated to T. V. Soong, who transferred from Vanderbilt to Harvard after "a few weeks", were longer than those about Ts-liang.

Article in the Nashville Tennessean featuring the Soong Family, June 5, 1938 . Source: VU Archive

Picture of Soong Ts-liang when he returned China. Source: Song Shi San Xiong Di: San Ge Yang Bo Shi Yu Minguo Jing Ji.

After returning to China, Soong Ts-Liang served as the tax officer of the Minguo Government in Guangzhou. He received the offer through connections to his brother-in-law, Sun Yat-Sen. During the first year of his term, Ts-Liang brought an extra 980,000 yuan in fiscal revenue to the Minguo Government and received high compliments from President Sun Yat-Sen.

After Sun Yat-Sen passed away in Peking in 1925, Soong Ts-Liang became the president of the Guangzhou Bank. The Guangzhou Bank not only guaranteed financial activities in Southern China, but also provided funds for the North Expedition from 1926 to 1928. In particular, Ts-Liang raised 3 million yuan to support the North Expedition, which ended the separationism caused by warlords and unified China under the Nationalist Government.

Soong Brothers in the 1930s. Source: Song Shi San Xiong Di: San Ge Yang Bo Shi Yu Minguo Jing Ji.

Tse-Vung (T.V. Soong), the Brother of Ts-Liang, took the position of prime finance minister of the Nanking Nationalist Government in 1928. In 1934, the Soong Brothers founded the China Construction Bank, and Ts-Liang served in the role of president. Back then, the Central Bank was also dominated by T.V. Soong. The Soong Brothers utilized their influence in the Finance Sector to make enormous investments, and they amassed a great fortune. Based on reasonable calculations, the Soong Brothers owned about 25% of all assets of the China Bank.

The Soong Family was among the most wealthy and prestigious families of Minguo China.

In 1939, Japan launched Operation Tong to persuade Chiang Kai-Shek to give up resistance and pursue peaceful approaches to take resources from China. In response, Chiang Kai-Shek assigned Soong Ts-Liang to negotiate with the Japanese. On December 27, 1939, the Japanese representative held the first conference with Ts-Liang in Hong Kong.

It is necessary to note that Chiang Kai-Shek had no interest in negotiating with the Japanese. He decided to confuse the Japanese and delay the organization of the Wang Jingwei Government, a puppet regime established by the Japanese in Nanking.

Eventually the Tong Operation failed, and it became a stain on the Japanese Army, which promoted extreme violence to resolve conflicts.

Arrival in Honolulu, Hawaii on Nov. 29, 1940 (departing from Manila, the Philippines.) Source: Ancestry.com

Wedding of Soong Ts-Liang and Xi Manying, printed in the Hugo (Oklahoma) Daily News on Jan 29, 1942. Source: Ancestry.com

In 1949, the Communist Party became the national regime of China. Soong Ts-Liang went back to the U.S. in 1947. After his return, he started his retirement life and rarely participated in political activities.

Arrival at Anchorage, Alaska on August 28, 1948. Source: Ancestry.com

In 1968, Vanderbilt alumni Frank. K. Houston, a New York banker and philanthropist, suggested to Vice Chancellor Elliot that a memorial should be erected for Charlie Soong, Ts-liang's influential father.

The university considered asking for a donation from the Soong family for the establishment of an Asian Studies Department, but eventually decided to use the proposed funding for a Divinity School.

Vanderbilt inter-office correspondence about a potential Charlie Soong Memorial, October 21, 1971. Source: VU Archive

They reached out to T. V. Soong, Ts-liang's older brother in New York, whose wealth they were well aware of. However, T. V. Soong declined their meeting request due to old age and poor health.

In 1969, Vanderbilt hired the service of the Retail Credit Company (known as Equifax today, one of the "Big Three" consumer credit reporting agencies) to investigate Soong Ts-liang's financial situation. Nevertheless, the result was quite fruitless for Vanderbilt's evaluation of his potential as a donor.

Credit report of Soong Ts-liang done by the Retail Credit Company, November 1969. Source: VU Archive

After T. V. Soong died in 1971, his less well-known brother seemed the best shot Vanderbilt had at procuring funding.

Walter Harrelson, Dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School, acquired Soong Ts-liang's actual U.S. mailing address through alumni Frank K. Houston.

Correspondence between Dean Walter Harrelson and Alumni Frank. K. Houston in 1971. Source: VU Archive

Sending a letter to 106 Muchmore Rd, Harrison, New York, Dean Harrelson finally received a reply from Soong Ts-liang, who politely turned down this meeting request due to a "severe nerve pain illness" that needed "absolute rest for several months."

Two failed attempts by the Deans of the Divinity School to meet Soong Ts-liang in 1971 & 1973. Source: VU Archive

Two years later, in 1973, Neil Housewright, Associate Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, made a similar request and was also rejected for the same reason: poor health.

Soong Ts-liang refused Dean Neil Housewright's meeting request in 1973. Source: VU Archive

Still, the university didn't give up: in 1975, Soong Ts-liang was still on the list of New Yorkers that chancellor George Alexander Heard wanted to meet with.

Unfortunately, no archive exists that can tell us if any meeting ever took place before Ts-Liang's death in 1987. Soong Ts-liang is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum, in Westchester County, New York.

Possible calls made by Chancellor Heard in New York on April 1 and 2, 1975. Source: VU Archive


Chen, Tingyi. Song Shi San Xiong Di: San Ge Yang Bo Shi Yu Minguo Jing Ji. Di 1 ban. Beijing: Dong fang chu ban she, 2004.

"The Commodore, 1909-." Vanderbilt University, n.d. https://jstor.org/stable/community.28481710.

"Ts-liang Soong (Birth Year: 1899), Alaska, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Manifests, 1906-1963," [database on-line]. Accessed April 17, 2023. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com

"Ts-liang Soong (Birth Year: 1899), Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1959,"[database on-line]. Accessed April 17, 2023. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com

"Ts-liang Soong (Birth Year: 1899), San Francisco, California, U.S., Chinese Arriving Passenger Arrivals and Disposition, 1903-1947," [database on-line]. Accessed April 17, 2023. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com 

"Ts-liang Soong (Birth Year: 1899), U.S., Newspapers.com™ Marriage Index, 1800s-current," [database on-line]. Accessed April 17, 2023. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com

"85. Soong, Ts-liang BA '21, RG935, Alumni Relations, Box 2714," Vanderbilt University Archive.

Source of Non-Vanderbilt Individuals/Entity in VU Archive documents:

Anna G. Koester, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Archives: Collection Guide and Catalog, October 1998, pp. 12-13. https://tjportal.on.worldcat.org/oclc/808042084

Find a Grave, database and images, accessed 23 April 2023. Find a Grave Memorial ID 238056034. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/238056034/tse-liang-soong

Furletti, Mark J. "An overview and history of credit reporting." FRB of Philadelphia Payment Cards Center Discussion Paper 02-07 (2002).

Time Magazine (1954). "The Press: The Man in the Middle." https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,823411-1,00.html/

Picture of the Soong Family ,1917. Soong Ts-Liang is in the fourth row, on the left. Charlie Soong is in the third row, in front of Soong Ts-Liang. Source: Song Shi San Xiong Di: San Ge Yang Bo Shi Yu Minguo Jing Ji.

Arrival at San Francisco before heading to Nashville on Sep. 11th, 1919. Source: Ancestry.com

Picture of Soong Ts-liang when he returned China. Source: Song Shi San Xiong Di: San Ge Yang Bo Shi Yu Minguo Jing Ji.

Soong Brothers in the 1930s. Source: Song Shi San Xiong Di: San Ge Yang Bo Shi Yu Minguo Jing Ji.

Arrival in Honolulu, Hawaii on Nov. 29, 1940 (departing from Manila, the Philippines.) Source: Ancestry.com

Wedding of Soong Ts-Liang and Xi Manying, printed in the Hugo (Oklahoma) Daily News on Jan 29, 1942. Source: Ancestry.com

Arrival at Anchorage, Alaska on August 28, 1948. Source: Ancestry.com

Soong Ts-liang refused Dean Neil Housewright's meeting request in 1973. Source: VU Archive

Possible calls made by Chancellor Heard in New York on April 1 and 2, 1975. Source: VU Archive