Book Talk with the Author:  Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945: Deploying Words as Weapons

Wednesday, February 12, 5 PM – 6:30 PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA
Free and open to the public. Please register here. 

 

This talk provides an overview of Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945: Deploying Words as Weapons(Rowman & Littlefield/Bloomsbury 2025), a new book on China’s former First Lady, Soong Mayling (also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek). It examines her timely and critical contributions in the areas of war, women’s work, and diplomacy during China’s War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945) through a gender lens.

 

About the Author:

An Asian American academic from Taiwan, Esther Hu (PhD Cornell) is a feminist literary scholar and historian who joined the faculty of Boston University in 2005 as an Assistant Professor in the Humanities and has taught Shakespeare, the Chinese Translation seminar for the MFA in Literary Translation, and numerous British and American Literature and Writing courses. She is a Senior Fellow at the International History Institute and Affiliated Faculty of the Center for the Study of Asia. An Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University,  Dr. Hu has published many essays, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries and is the English translator of Soong Mayling’s Chinese-language pictorial biography, A Legacy of Grace and Resilience: Soong Mayling and her Era (2023; 2nd Ed. 2024).

 

Praises for Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945: Deploying Words as Weapons (Rowman & Littlefield 2025):

Soong Mayling, or Madame Chiang Kai-shek, was one of the most influential and controversial women of the twentieth century and Esther T. Hu’s careful study of her wartime activities is sure to further elevate her stature. This history recovers Mayling’s eloquence and passion in rallying the Chinese people, especially its women, to resist Japanese aggression. It is no wonder that millions of Americans came to understand China’s global mission through its first lady.— Gordon H. Chang, Stanford University
In most English-language historical writing on wartime China, Soong Mayling appears as an interesting footnote, rather than a central figure. Esther Hu’s book provides a new perspective, revealing Soong Mayling’s important contributions as an orator, writer, and organizer who worked tirelessly to rally the Chinese people during a national crisis.

— Peter Worthing, Texas Christian University

This compelling and meticulously researched study delves into the many dimensions of Soong Mayling’s contributions to wartime China from 1937 to 1945. Drawing on archival records, newly released sources, and contemporary scholarship, it brings Soong Mayling vividly to life with clear and engaging prose. A must-read for scholars and students of WWII history and modern China, as well as for general readers captivated by the legacy of Soong Mayling and the complex era of wartime China.

— Peter Chen-Main Wang, Fu-jen Catholic University

 

Soong Mayling was the most influential woman of the Second World War, not just in China but anywhere. In Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945 Esther Hu uses Soong Mayling’s radio addresses, public speeches, and letters as well as archival documents from around the world to illuminate her contributions to the war effort. Soong Mayling headed the Chinese air force, mobilized China’s women for the war effort, looked after the many thousands of orphans, and shaped allied relations and strategy by participating as an interpreter and interlocutor in meetings of her husband, president Chiang Kaishek, with other allied leaders. Hu insightfully compares Soong Mayling to Churchill, who through his persona and speeches mobilized Britain as Soong Mayling did China. This is the most detailed and by far the fairest account of a life that should be far better remembered.

— Hans van de Ven, University of Cambridge