The Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling, official the Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling, Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China, is a public cemetery in Shanghai, China.[1] It houses the memorial hall of Soong Ching-ling and her family tombs, along with notable Chinese and foreign figures in Shanghai.[2] The cemetery was called the Shanghai International Cemetery, before the burial of Soong Ching-ling.
History
In October 1909, Jing Runshan, a businessman from Zhejiang, purchased 20 mu of land in the western suburbs of Shanghai to establish a garden, which was completed in 1914. In 1917, Jing's wife, Wang Guozhen, expanded the garden by an additional 55.6 mu to the west and renamed it the International Cemetery. In September 1934, the cemetery was taken over by the Bureau of Health of the Shanghai Municipal Council,[3] and further expanded into a public cemetery, covering an area of 81,800 square metres (880,000 sq ft).[4]
In 1918, the Soong family bought graveyard within the cemetery as their family graveyard, following the death of Charlie Soong. In August 1931, the Soong sisters and brothers buried their parents together, following the death of their mother Ni Kwei-tseng.[5]
During the Cultural Revolution, the cemetery suffered extensive devastation at the hands of the Red Guards. They desecrated the Soong family tombs at the International Cemetery, toppling gravestones and exhuming the remains of Soong Ching-ling's parents. This deeply shocked and saddened Soong. Chinese PremierZhou Enlai intervened, ensuring the restoration of her parents' graves.[6]
In 1973, the Civil Affairs Bureau of Shanghai nationalised the 30 mu of land surrounding the Soong family graves. By 1981, the entirety of the International Cemetery had been nationalised.[7]
On 29 May 1981, Soong Ching-ling died in Beijing and was buried in the Soong family graveyard in June. In January 1984, the cemetery was re-organised as the Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling, Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China, which came under state protection in February 1982.[5][8] Before Soong Mei-ling died in 2003, she had refused to be buried in Taiwan and hoped to be buried with her parents in Shanghai, which was not acceptable for the Kuomintang. As a result, she was buried in the United States instead.[9]
The cemetery is managed by the Management Office of the Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling, Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China,[11] which is affiliated with Shanghai Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching-ling Cultural Relics Management Committee.[12]
