Editing Soong Ching-ling (section)

== Names and titles ==
As with the Chinese naming tradition, Soong was the family name, Ching-ling was the first name.{{Sfn|Epstein|1995|p=1}} Her name is also rendered as Song Qingling in Pinyin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Song Qingling {{!}} Wife of Sun Yat-sen, Nationalist leader |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Song-Qingling |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> In some early literature, she was referred to as Chung-ling Song,<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=https://dp.la/item/b1798d2c9e850e952ac1b642adde9429 |title=Mrs. Sun Yat Sen Rides With Army:Warlike Spirit In Marked Contrast To College Days In Georgia. Northwest History. China F-Pir. Famine To Pirates. 1919 To 1935. United States. |publisher=Spokesman Review}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=TIME |date=1927-02-21 |title=Foreign News: Wise Wives |url=https://time.com/archive/6897137/foreign-news-wise-wives/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=TIME |language=en |quote=Mrs. Sun Yat Sen. There was another little Chinese girl, and she went to Wesleyan College—amid the scenery of Macon, Ga. Chung-ling Soong was her name, and her two sisters were with her. They sometimes almost romped.}}</ref> a name she used during her time at Wesleyan.<ref name=":10" /> While studying there, she adopted the Christian name "Rosamonde" or "Rosamond."<ref name=":0" /> Ching-ling was named after Rosamonde Ricaud, the daughter of the Methodist minister who baptised her father in the United States in 1880.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spooner |first=Paul B. |date=2011 |title=Song Ailing and China's Revolutionary Elite |url=http://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40037/3279 |journal=Review of Culture |edition=International |location=Macau |publisher=Cultural Affairs Bureau |volume=37 |issue= |pages=27–45}}</ref> Among her close friends at Wesleyan, however, she was more commonly known as Suzie or Suzi.{{Sfn|Epstein|1995|p=1}}

After marrying Sun Yat-sen in 1925, she became known as Madame Sun Yat-sen.<ref name=":0" /> Her daughter-in-law and the wife of [[Sun Fo]], {{Ill|Chen Suk-ying|zh|陳淑英}}, preferred to be called Mrs Sun, rather than Madame Sun, to avoid confusion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-11-07 |title=永远的"上海婆"：宋庆龄与孙中山后人的故事 |url=http://www.suninst.com.cn/zxdt/content/367/34583.html |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=The Museum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen |publication-place=Zhongshan, China}}</ref> As the wife and widow of the founder of the Chinese Republic, she was honoured as the "mother of modern China,"<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-24 |title=Exhibition honouring 'mother of modern China' to open |url=https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1714896-20230824.htm |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=[[RTHK]] |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chung-mao |first=Hsu |title=[Photo story] The Soong sisters and their place in Chinese modern history |url=https://www.thinkchina.sg/history/photo-story-soong-sisters-and-their-place-chinese-modern-history |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=ThinkChina - Big reads, Opinion & Columns on China |language=en}}</ref> by both major political parties in China, KMT and CCP.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dessima |first1=Williams |last2=CIMTech |date=1999 |title=Soong Ching-Ling (1893-1981) |url=https://people.brandeis.edu/~dwilliam/profiles/ching-ling.htm |website=Women Leaders and Transformation in Developing Countries |publisher=Brandeis University |publication-place=Waltham, MA}}</ref> The KMT, which hailed Sun Yat-sen as the "father of the nation," extended this honour to her as "the mother of the nation."'''{{Efn|{{lang-zh|s=国母|t=國母|p=guó mǔ|w=kuo2 mu3}}}}''' The CCP also occasionally used this title to refer to her. However, she was not Sun's only wife. [[Lu Muzhen]] was also sometimes described with the same term.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Müller |first=Gotelind |url=https://fid4sa-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/4474 |title=Chinese Grave Problems: The Historical Trajectory of the Republican-Era, Sun-Chiang-Soong Families as Mirrored in Their Tombs |publisher=CrossAsia-Repository |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-948791-19-3 |location=Heidelberg |pages=19–21 |doi=10.11588/xarep.00004474}}</ref>

Following the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] in 1949, she assumed a largely symbolic role in the Communist government in Beijing.<ref name=":0" /> Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] revered her as "the treasure of the country."<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.hkscl.org/showroom/admin/downloadFile.jsp?webId=1338059320148007204&userFolder=filestore&fileName=1518499391948472086.pdf |title=Soong Ching Ling: Everlasting Love to Her Homeland |publisher=Hong Kong Soong Ching Ling Goldkey Training Foundation |year=2004 |location=Hong Kong}}</ref>  She was awarded the title of the "Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China" in 1981 before her death.<ref name=":0" />