Chen Jieru

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Chen Jieru (Chinese: 陳潔如; 26 August 1906 – 21 January 1971), also romanized Ch'en Chieh-ju, was the second wife of Chiang Kai-shek. She was nicknamed Jennie. Chen's ancestral hometown was Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, but she was born in Shanghai. She wrote a memoir which Chiang successfully suppressed during his lifetime. It was finally published in 1993. In the memoir, Chen details how she and Chiang Kai-shek met at the home of a mutual friend in 1918 and how he pursued her, finally convincing her to marry him on 5 December 1921 by stating that his arranged marriage with Mao Fumei was unhappy and celibate, and his liaison with Yao Yecheng was a social courtesy following her disfigurement. The couple held their wedding at East Hotel in Shanghai. Chiang promised Chen that he was marrying Soong Meiling ("Madame Chiang") for political convenience before a Buddhist shrine, saying "Should I break my promise and fail to take her back, may the Great Buddha smite me and my Nanjing government.",...

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