Chiang Kai-shek had three wives before marrying Soong Mei-ling, namely Mao Fumei, Yao Zhicheng, and Chen Jieru. Before marrying Soong Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek had basically no feelings for Mao Fumei and Yao Zhicheng, but Chen Jieru was regarded by Chiang Kai-shek as a stumbling block on the road to marrying Soong Meiling.
Chen Jieru did not agree to divorce Chiang Kai-shek at first, and was a matchmaker for the two, and Zhang Jingjiang, who was known as the elder of the Kuomintang, personally went out to persuade Chen Jieru to divorce Chiang Kai-shek. Although Chen Jieru was reluctant to do so, she could only agree to divorce in view of Chiang Kai-shek's status. After that, Chiang Kai-shek sent Chen Jieru to the United States to study and gave her monthly living expenses.
In order to reassure Chen Jieru to go to the United States, Chiang Kai-shek told Chen Jieru that it was only a stopgap measure for him to become related to Soong Mei-ling, and Chiang Kai-shek also swore in front of the bodhisattva: He hoped that Chen Jieru would go to the United States first, and he would remarry Chen Jieru after five years, and if he could not do so, he would not be able to gain a foothold in China.
Chen Jieru also knew the situation of Chiang Kai-shek, and with the persuasion of Zhang Jingjiang, he could only leave China by boat in 1927 and go to the United States to study. When Chen Jieru was still on the ship, Chiang Kai-shek issued a marriage statement with Soong Mei Ling, which mentioned: "Yao Chen Ershi, who originally had no marriage contract, is now disassociated from Zhongzheng. Chen Jieru saw that the lover who had once made an alliance with the Sea Oath Mountain had now changed his face, and the pain in his heart was probably tantamount to death.
When Chen Jieru first arrived in the United States, she wanted to forget about Chiang Kai-shek, and she spent all her time studying, and she also received a master's degree from Columbia University's School of Education. However, Chen Jieru could not forget Chiang Kai-shek after all, and it did not take long for him to write letters to Chiang Kai-shek. Chen Jieru wrote many letters to Chiang Kai-shek during his study in the United States, but Chiang Kai-shek basically did not reply.
In 1933, Chen Jieru returned to China from the United States, in order to take care of her life, Chiang Kai-shek specially approved her 50,000 yuan, chen Jieru has lived in Shanghai with peace of mind. Shortly after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Shanghai fell, and Chen Jieru did not want to join the Wang puppet government as a traitor, so she secretly left Shanghai and went to Chongqing, the capital at that time, where she was arranged by Chiang Kai-shek to live in Wu Zhongxin's home. It is said that during this period, the two once had a rekindled old love.
In 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, he did not take Chen Jieru with him, and Chen Jieru and his adopted daughter took the initiative to stay in Shanghai. After liberation, Chen Jieru served as a member of the CppcC National Committee of Shanghai's Luwan District, where she has lived ever since. Because there was no financial resource, Chen Jieru's life soon fell into difficulties.
In the 1960s, in order to earn a living, Chen Jieru wrote a memoir of her marriage to Chiang Kai-shek, which Chen Jieru wrote in English with the help of her and Chiang Kai-shek's English teacher, Li Shimin. According to documents now disclosed, Chen Jieru extorted a million dollars from Chiang Kai-shek after writing the book, and said that if Chiang Kai-shek did not give money, he would consider publishing the book. In the end, Chiang Kai-shek promised to give Chen Jieru $500 a month, and Chen Jieru gave up publishing the memoir. It was not until 1992, 17 years after Chiang Kai-shek's death, that the memoir was published under the title "Memoirs of Chen Jieru".
In her later years, Chen Jieru settled in Hong Kong and lived a leisure life in Hong Kong. Chiang Ching-kuo once bought a house for her in Kowloon Bay as a place to live in her later years. However, Chen Jieru has been living alone in a rental house in Causeway Bay, she rented out the house that Chiang Ching-kuo bought for her, and lived a life of "charter wife" in Hong Kong, playing mahjong and drinking tea in her spare time, and her life was also very happy.
In 1971, Chen Jieru died of illness in Hong Kong at the age of 66. In 2002, Chen Jieru's adopted daughter Chen Yaoguang buried Chen Jieru back in Shanghai.
Resources:
Writer's Digest No. 200, Memoirs of Chen Jieru