On the afternoon of September 27, 2019, the staff of the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre to visit “The Struggle for New China: the Exhibition of Items and Manuscripts of Soong Ching Ling”.

Mme. Soong Ching Ling, the honorary chairman of People’s Republic of China and one of the founders of the New China, was a prominent woman in the 20th century. After the founding of the New China, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the cause of China’s socialist revolution, construction and reform, went back and forth from Beijing to Shanghai, and visited factories, rural areas, hospitals, theatres and schools, making unique contributions to human progress and world peace as well as the welfare of women and children. The exhibition takes the theme of “Soong Ching Ling and New China”, telling the story of Mme. Soong’s struggle for the birth and construction of New China through her items and manuscripts.

This exhibition brings together more than 400 precious exhibits provided by six relevant Soong Ching Ling memorial units in Beijing and Shanghai, including documents, relics, and photos. Accompanied and guided by Mr. Xue Chao, president of the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Study Association, SSCLF’s staff listened and watched carefully, and stopped for discussion from time to time. Soong’s The Struggle for New China, the two gold ring seals used for stamping receipts for fundraisers in anti-Japanese war, the cheongsam she gifted to an American friend during the war, the souvenirs from foreign friends, the first issue of China Reconstructs—a magazine founded by Soong, etc., all these exhibits are silently telling us about Mme. Soong’s unremitting efforts to the foundation and construction of the New China.

SSCLF’s staff were extraordinarily engrossed when looking at the board “Mme. Soong Ching Ling founded the China Defense League at the most critical moment of China, which later developed into the China Welfare Institute”. Mme. Soong Ching Ling registered all donations, and gave feedback to all donors on whereabouts of their donations, which reflects her public welfare spirit on transparency.

SSCLF’s staff members said that as a foundation established by the China Welfare Institute named after Mme. Soong Ching Ling, it is their mission to tell the story of Mme. Soong well, and carry on and promote her thought and spirit on public welfare. SSCLF will continue to explore and practice, thereby having Mme. Soong Ching Ling’s loving causes benefit more people and help promote the development of the society.