On October 23, 2003, Song Meiling passed away quietly in her apartment in New York. Her departure not only announced the end of an era, but also plunged those figures who once surrounded her into an unknown fate. What the world doesn't know is that the life of this legendary woman is far more complicated than we know.
Song Meiling is a woman who has the ultimate pursuit of quality of life, and her diet and daily life all show a unique style. Her chef Gao Ruikun, a master of Sichuan and Huaiyang cuisine, has been silently guarding her table for many years. With the death of Song Meiling, Gao Ruikun also ushered in a turning point in his life.
Gao Ruikun's story is a legend of loyalty and sacrifice. He was one of Soong Meiling's important retinues in the United States in her later years, responsible for taking care of her diet. When Song Meiling died, Gao Ruikun returned to Taiwan with the rest of his entourage, looking forward to a good time with his family, but the cruelty of reality caught him off guard.
After returning to Taiwan, Gao Ruikun was assigned to work at Chen Shui-bian's mansion, and then he was transferred to another position, and he was no longer the chef who controlled the kitchen. In the face of such a change, Gao Ruikun's mood became heavier and heavier, and soon after, Gao Ruikun hanged himself. According to his wife, Lil Lin, in the last months of his life, her husband was often depressed, complaining that the pressure from the top made him consider "voluntarily resigning".
Gao Ruikun's tragedy may stem from the helplessness of "returning late". Most of those who returned to Taiwan earlier were given the opportunity to be promoted, while those who returned late like Gao Ruikun faced the fate of being forgotten. This is not only a personal tragedy, but also a microcosm of the decline of the Chiang family's influence in Taiwan.
The Kong Song family is a name closely linked to the Kuomintang regime, and their defense of the family's interests is almost to the point of desperation. In 1948, when Chiang Ching-kuo launched the "Tiger Fighting Movement" in Shanghai, Kong Lingkan, a member of the Kong Song family, became the target of this movement. Soong Meiling's intervention, as well as Chiang Kai-shek's intervention, led to the rapid release of Kong Lingkan, exposing nepotism within the Kuomintang government.
Song Meiling herself always seems to be inclined to the former in her balance between the interests of the family and the country. She was criticized for depositing aid money into her personal account, but Chiang Kai-shek chose to remain silent. This principle of family priority eventually became a major criticism of the Kuomintang regime.
In Song Meiling's later years, although she had a rich material life, her soul often felt empty and lonely. With the death of her loved ones and old friends, she began to reflect on the meaning of life. As a devout Christian, Soong believed that death was the gateway to Elysium, and she wondered why the gods left her alone. Until one day, she seems to have found the answer - the gods left her in the world to let her complete her unfinished business.
Although the descendants of the Chiang family have lost the glory of the political arena, they are still active in other fields, and the influence of the family has not completely dissipated. In contrast, the fate of those retinues who failed to adjust or adapt to the changes of the times in time, such as Gao Ruikun, is particularly bleak. Their stories remind us how the wheel of history has ruthlessly run over individual lives, leaving indelible traces one after another.