wfn.org | Women's College Receives Millions

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (149
notes).

Note 147 by UMNS on June 10, 1997 at 15:37 Eastern (2386 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                              335(10-71B){147}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             June 10, 1997

Anonymous donor gives $6 million 
to United Methodist college

                 by United Methodist News Service*

     United Methodist-related Wesleyan College, a women's college
in Georgia, has received its largest gift ever as a tribute to
three alumnae.
     The 161-year-old-school in Macon received $6 million from an
anonymous donor in honor of Soong May-ling (Madame Chiang Kai-
shek) and in memory of her sisters, Soong Ching-ling (Madame Sun
Yat-sen) and Soong E-ling (Madame H.H. Kung).
     The Soong sisters attended Wesleyan College in the early
1900s. E-ling and Ching-ling graduated in 1909 and 1913,
respectively. May-ling Soong, who is considered to be 100 years
old in Chinese years, came to Wesleyan with her sister in 1908 and
received private tutoring until she was old enough to join the
freshmen class in 1912-13. In 1913 she transferred to Wellesley
(Mass.) College, also a women's college, to be near her brother
T.V. Soong, who was attending Harvard.
     The anonymous donor specified that the gift be used "for the
promotion and development of the education of your esteemed
college in the United States of America but not any other place."
     According to Wesleyan President Robert K. Ackerman, most of
the money will go into the college's $31.4 million endowment. 
     Wesleyan College helped prepare the Soong sisters for pivotal
roles in the Chinese government and its power struggles. 
     After graduating from Wellesley in 1917, May-ling returned to
China and met and married Chiang Kai-Shek in 1927. In 1928, Chiang
became head of the Nationalist government at Nanjing, and in the
years ahead he would lead the fight against the invading Japanese
(1937-45). 
     May-ling served as a spokeswoman for China during World War
II and provided a link with the West. She is the only sister still
living.
                              #  #  #

     * Information for this article came from the Wesleyan
Christian Advocate, newspaper of the North and South Georgia
United Methodist annual conferences.  

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