It has been so long since I contacted you. Only now do I have time to write to you. Nicolai has passed away, please accept my condolences. What is life like now? How many children have you got? How many grandchildren? How many great-grandchildren? What jobs have your children got? Are they with you? . . . When you left, we saw you off at the station in Sverdlovsk. That was the last time we saw each other . . . Everyone was very moved. The women cried and the men surrounded Nicolai to say their farewells. I think that love is very powerful. One can leave one's motherland for love . . .
This letter was received by the widow of the late ROC President Chiang Ching-kuo in the spring of 1992, from an acquaintance in her old home town. By that time, the day of parting at the train station was already more than half a century ago.
Nicolai meets Faina
The "Nicolai" referred to in the letter is the name given to Chiang Ching-kuo when he was in Russia. He had spent twelve years away from home, going through university, working in a factory, laboring on a farm, mining in Siberia, and detained by Stalin for rectification. It was only in the spring of 1937 that he finally received his permit to return to China. He was 27 years old.
The full name of the young mother who could "leave her motherland for love" was Faina Epatcheva Vahaleva. She had met the young Nicolai in a factory when she was 16. Two years later they had married, and in the same year they had their first child. Faina was 21 when she said good-bye to the elder sister who had supported her, and a group of close friends. Carrying her son in swaddling clothes, she joined her husband on his long journey home.
Daughter-in-law to the First Family
With the blow of the whistle and a thick cloud of steam, the first episode of a long story began. As for what followed, the answers to the string of questions asked by Faina's old friend are something of mysterious legend for most Chinese people, too. If we open the photo album, though, perhaps we can recover something of what happened.
After leaving Faina's home town, the couple traveled for two weeks from Moscow to Shanghai, the commercial center of China, with its thriving night life and foreign influences. They did not linger long, but went on to visit Nicolai's father, Chiang Kai-shek, in Hangzhou, who was leading China's military forces in the war of resistance against Japan, and his powerful wife, Madame Song Mei-ling.
Faina, nick-named "Fang-niang" by her husband, became the eldest daughter-in-law of China's first family. The eldest son of this couple who had weathered so many hardships, born in the Ural Mountains, was given his place in the family register by his grandfather with the name Hsiao-wen.
At the end of April 1937, the couple and their child moved yet again, this time to the ancestral home of Xikou in Zhejiang province. Here they paid their respects to Chiang Ching-kuo's natural mother, Mao Fu-mei. With the support of this family, the couple dressed in western-style suit and Chinese-style qipao and went through the marriage ceremony. Although the precious photograph of this wedding has faded with time, it still conveys the festive atmosphere of that occasion.
Righteousness and virtue
Returning to her husband's home, Fang-liang not only enjoyed newly married life, but was soon expecting her second son, too. Having been orphaned at a young age, she promised her husband that she would treat her in-laws with filial piety just as if they were her own parents.
As well as attending to Chiang Ching-kuo's mother, the couple also began their separate studies of Chinese. In accordance with his father's wishes, Chiang Ching-kuo set about studying classical works such as the Analects of Confucius, the philosophy of the Song-dynasty philosophers Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming, and the family strictures of the Qing statesman Zeng Guofan. He also wrote the memoirs of his experiences in the Soviet Union. Faina, on the other hand, spent all day with her mother-in-law. This gave her a good grasp of the latter's Ningbo dialect, which ultimately became her main language, and the art of Ningbo-style cooking. Eventually she changed her name to "Fang-liang," with its meaning of "righteousness and virtue."
Fang-liang enjoyed five months of unprecedented warmth in Xikou, but the China she had stepped into was going through an eventful autumn. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident near Beijing had led to all out war against Japan, and major hostilities had broken out at Shanghai. In October, Fang-liang followed her husband to Nanchang in Jiangxi province. The following year saw the birth of her daughter, Hsiao-chang.
At the age of 30, Chiang Ching-kuo became the executive governor of the Gannan administrative region in the province of Jiangxi. This marked the beginning of the period of his career when he became known as "Blue-Sky Chiang," an allusion to the figure of an incorruptible judge in the Peking Opera. He encouraged his wife to join him in the project of building a new Gannan, and she soon became the head of a nursery opened to help out local peasant women.
Leaving the ancestral home
Later on, Chiang Ching-kuo was also given assignments in Chongqing, Manchuria, the Soviet Union, and Shanghai. Fang-liang had to make a home in places as far apart as Gannan, Xikou, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. Her second son, Hsiao-wu, was born in Chongqing. She gave birth to her third son, Hsiao-yung, in Shanghai, the year before it fell to the Japanese.
The photographs from this period show heroic street scenes of the movement in Gannan; holding the new-born son at home in Chongqing; father greeting his toddler son on returning home; mother carrying daughter on her shoulders to pick osmanthus flowers; the couple stealing a break from their busy schedule to go on outings together; and wearing mourning clothes on hearing of Mao Fu-mei's death. What grabs the attention most, though, is the photographs the couple sent to each other when they were apart, with inscriptions like "love to my wife Fang" and "a happy family." Sometimes these are written in intricate Russian script.
In January 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek announced retreat in the civil war, the family returned to Xikou. In February they went to nearby Taokeng to sweep the ancestral tomb. On the morning of April 25 they paid their final respects at the tombs of Chiang Ching-kuo's grandparents and Mao Fu-mei, who had been killed in an air raid, then left for Shanghai. At the end of the month, Fang-liang went ahead with her children and left the mainland for Taiwan.
18 Chang-an East Road
May 15, 1950, is Fang-liang's 35th birthday. Wearing a well-cut, lightly colored western-style dress, she sits in front of her dressing table, looking at a photograph of her husband, with a smile on her face.
Nicolai is now the head of the General Political Warfare Department of the Ministry of Defense on Taiwan. Just two days earlier he had held a press conference to announce the completion of the smashing of Communist secret organizations on the island.
Fang-liang did not ask about this kind of thing. When Chiang Ching-kuo came home, that was her country. She even called him "Guo," the Chinese character which means "country." It is the character "kuo" in her husband's name, as well as being similar to one of the syllables in "Nicolai." She herself was called "Fang" or "Fang Ah," in the way that people who speak the Ningbo dialect call their close relatives.
As for the children, by this time Hsiao-wen and Hsiao-chang were already fifteen and twelve years old, and were presented as smart middle-school students. The two youngest sons, Hsiao-wu and Hsiao-yung, were still only five and two years old, and spent most of their time squabbling.
Having been left without parents when a child, Fang-liang was always the caring mother. Her husband was a strict father in the traditional mold. He would beat the children when they did something wrong, to the sound of Fang-liang imploring him to stop in her Ningbo dialect. When the children were sick, it was always the mother who would watch by the bedside through the night.
Of course, the children only had to be well behaved for their father to play the ox with them on his return home from work, tumbling around with the two little ones. At times like this, the stern father became the 'little fifth son' in the eyes of their loving mother.
The sound of laughter
The photographs show just what a happy house this was, especially on the couple's wedding anniversary in March every year, or on family birthdays. Their Japanese-style home at 18 Chang-an East Road, Taipei, would be crammed full of friends, gathered at a round table to drink wine, play games, crack jokes, and cut cakes.
Fang-liang sparkled and smiled, dressing up the children from head to toe. When she was in high spirits she would even don a comic "big-nosed Russian" mask, making everybody fall about with laughter.
Every Christmas and Chinese New Year's Eve, though, the family would go to Chiang Kai-shek's residence in Shilin, and dine with Grandad and Grandma. Here, the young and the old would sit respectfully around a long western-style table in an atmosphere that was quite different from the relaxed and cheerful one at home.
The guests who frequently feature in the photographs from Chang-an East Road, always seem to be either the same familiar faces, or a group of friends who are American military advisers.
A sociable hostess
Ray Cline, who was deputy head of the CIA in Taiwan during the 1950s and 1960s, describes Chang-an East Road in his memoirs as a large but somewhat crude bungalow, that was comfortable but a little shabby as a place for entertaining high-ranking visitors to the ROC. He especially remembers how, on going from the sitting room to the study to appreciate Chiang Ching-kuo's paintings, one would have to pass portraits of his mother, which were the host's most valued treasures.
In the eyes of American friends, it might have been a crude and shabby place. Yet a table for VIPs, laden with turkey and lobsters, foreign cigarettes and wine, and American apples, was really a rarity in 1950s Taiwan.
Fang-liang obviously showed a lot of warm hospitality towards these Americans who were so tied up with Taiwan's destiny, and towards their families. Sometimes, to celebrate their birthdays, she would even give them Chinese paintings and artifacts, or ceremonial linked wine cups engraved by Taiwan's aboriginal peoples.
In later days Cline became a close friend of his host and his family. In his memoirs, he states quite baldly that one of his responsibilities was to understand in more depth just how sincere were the anti-communist feelings of this key official, with so many links to the Soviet Union.
Yet he was also left with a deep impression of Fang-liang as happy and lively, hospitable, talkative, and sociable. Chiang Ching-kuo's attitude towards her was one of extreme closeness, and he was full of love and respect for her, leaving her the true master of the house. This was unlike most Chinese officials, he noted, who tended to get very chauvinistic when talking about their wives.
Fighting communism
As well as her role as caring mother, loving wife, and hostess, throughout the 1950s Fang-liang was also involved in public work, and was certainly not lonely.
In many photographs she can be seen wearing a qipao and entertaining important guests as head of the Women's League, and visiting workers and soldiers. After the armed forces nursery school was opened in 1954, as general director, Fang-liang would often take her own children to join in the various activities. Standing under startling anti-communist and anti-Russian slogans, she would always wear her charming smile, making people instantly forget her foreign background.
As for the host at Chang-an East Road, he was heavily involved in anti-communist propaganda work. With duties in positions such as head of the General Political Warfare Department and head of the Veteran's Association, he established the Cheng Gong Cadre School, visited Japan and America to get experience of political warfare, established the Veterans' General Hospital, and led the retreat from the Dachen islands just offshore from the Chinese mainland. On many occasions he personally inspected the work on the cross-island highway, until it was opened to traffic, and established farming settlements for veterans along its route.
A daughter in the family
Apart from their wedding anniversary, no matter how busy the couple were, what they never forgot was the birthday of their most precious gem, their daughter Hsiao-chang.
The children all knew that this outstanding beauty, also known as "Amy," was their parents' favorite and would normally accompany them on all kinds of occasions. Her proud parents would dress her up especially elegantly, and her photograph could be seen all over the house. If her birthday party was not an occasion for inviting friends of her own age group, then it was a gathering of the older generation to celebrate the coming into the world of this girl whose appearance in the photographs is such an eye-opener.
From school uniform and pudding basin hair cut, to Chinese qipao and Western-style suit, complemented by an elegant bun, Hsiao-chang's photographs play the role of leading woman in the family album. As they put their arms around her shoulders, her parents's smiling faces are always especially proud.
At the end of 1958 Hsiao-chang had already been studying in America for a number of years. Yet when her birthday came around, the family would still have a banquet as usual. Unable to fully express their feelings by telephoning overseas, the family used an old-fashioned tape recorder which, although clumsy, could still let them all talk at leisure through the microphone to the girl at Berkeley. Her mother would then have her picture taken next to an enlarged photograph of her daughter, which was considered a major event.
The children go their own ways
The couple's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary saw the usual boisterous gathering of friends. In the picture taken with Fang-liang after the meal can be seen a series of photographs of the children on the buffet next to her, headed by a portrait of her eldest son, Hsiao-wen. This picture marks the opening scene of the 1960s.
Three years older than his sister Hsiao-chang, Hsiao-wen had once followed in his grandfather's footsteps, leaving home to enter the Fengshan Army School. Later, he went to America to study, a year earlier than his sister. In 1960 the two siblings both decided to get married in America.
The 25-year-old Hsiao-wen married Hsu Nai-chin, the daughter of the revolutionary hero Hsu Hsi-lin, and his mother went to America to hold the marriage. The 22-year-old Hsiao-chang also followed her heart and decided to marry a man many years her senior, Yu Yang-ho, son of Defense Minister Yu Ta-wei.
Following close on this news, Hsiao-yung also left home to study at military school. Their second eldest son, Hsiao Wu, then packed his books and left for study in Germany.
Delight in a granddaughter
Thankfully, after his marriage, Hsiao-wen not only decided to return to Taiwan, but also gave his parents a granddaughter, You-mei. Hsiao-wen then decided to live with his parents, bringing them great happiness.
From this point on in the family album there begins a series of photographs of You-mei: a picture of her first month, her second month, her first year and one month, one year and two months, and so on. There are even more pictures than those of the annual birthday celebrations for Hsiao-chang, and the feelings of strong love are evident to see.
Happily holding his granddaughter, by 1965 "Grandpa" Chiang Ching-kuo had been promoted to Minister of Defense, with his responsibilities growing by the day. Whereas in the past he would be sure to celebrate his wedding anniversary with some old friends at home, by this time it had become impossible not to break this habit. One year, the never resting "Guo" had to fly to the island of Kinmen, and it was decided by all concerned that his half brother, Wei-kuo, should cut the cake with his sister-in-law in a restaurant full of old friends.
At the end of 1968, because their Japanese-style home was close to a new high-rise complex and was in the way of works to widen the road, Fang-liang and her husband moved into the Chihai official residence at Tachih, north of Taipei, formally saying good-bye to the house on Chang-an East Road that had been so full of the laughter of children.
A different life at Chihai
"In those years, there were not really any celebrations to speak of. The Chiangs attached great importance to their 50th wedding anniversary and invited their close friends and relatives to their official residence to dine, . . . but this kind of grand banquet was a very rare thing to see at Chiang Ching-kuo's official mansion," recalls a previous member of the staff at Chihai, Weng Yuan, in his oral history.
"On family birthdays they ordered mostly ordinary food, with the addition of some long noodles (which signify longevity in Chinese culture), such as pickled vegetables with meat noodles, or egg and noodles. That was considered to be a birthday celebration . . . something that raised quite a few eyebrows with the servants at the Chihai official mansion," says Weng.
The "official mansion" that he mentions is Chihai, a two-story western-style building that had been a naval reception center in the 1950s. After Fang-liang and her family moved in, Chiang Ching-kuo became Deputy Premier and then Premier, and finally President of the ROC. Not liking Chihai's title as the "official mansion," and with a flare for the common touch, he decided to call it his "residence" instead.
Despising corruption and waste, and taking the leading role in a nation-building campaign, Chiang Ching-kuo insisted on a strict home life when his children had left home. The life of the Chiang couple thus appears to have been quite frugal. Even though the deputy head of staff at Chihai makes a number of criticisms in his oral history of his master for being "two faced," he still stresses, "I was with him for many years and frankly speaking, absolutely nothing can be said regarding Chiang Ching-kuo's upholding of his own integrity and honesty."
Can I kiss Dad?
In the family album it is very hard to find traces of what life was like at Chihai. Photographs of "Guo" away from home, visiting the people and greeting foreign guests begin to dominate the album in countless numbers instead. Birthdays and wedding anniversaries now tend to get overlooked.
"Our boss's birthdays were all spent on the offshore islands with military officials," says Kao Chih-wei, Chiang Ching-kuo's photographer from 1978 onwards. He remembers Chiang's seventieth birthday, which was spent at sea on a warship. The military officials on board gave "the boss" a birthday cake.
If "Guo's" birthdays were spent like this, Fang-liang's were still marked by a small gathering at the residence. On the couple's 40th anniversary in March 1975, Ching-kuo finally found time out from his tours to take his wife on a tour from the Tseng Wen Dam and Chiayi Farm to Kaohsiung.
They had no idea that only two weeks later Chiang Kai-shek would be dead, an event that shook them both. When the members of the family came together for the wake, Fang-liang suddenly asked, "Is it all right for me to kiss dad?" The eldest daughter-in-law, who had been presented by her father-in-law with an inscription reading "compassionate, filial, virtuous, and worthy" on her 50th birthday, then leant forwards and bade farewell in her own special way.
After Chiang Kai-shek's death, his widow, Song Mei-ling, went to the United States for medical treatment. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, a time for reunion, the family departed from its previous custom and began to gather for a banquet at Chiang Kai-shek's mausoleum in Tsu-hu. Other special days, such as You-mei's 20th birthday, and various banquets, would be held at the residence of the eldest son, Hsiao-wen, in Taipei's Yangming Mountains.
I will take you to hospital
As with any family album, what features most is the frequent happy family gatherings. When it comes to aging and ill health, even funeral and mourning scenes seem to be absent.
The master of the Chihai residence was the dashing young man that the orphan Fang-liang had come to rely on from the age of 16. After middle age, though, he had finally come to belong to the country. In his later years, he suffered from increasingly severe diabetes, draining the strength from his legs and inflicting him with eye problems. Yet still he would not rest.
Fang-liang's health also deteriorated. On January 6, 1988, due to asthma, her condition became more serious. She refused to leave her husband's side for hospital treatment, however. Finally, at "Guo's" insistence, she went to spend a few days in hospital, in his company, after which they returned home together. Then, at noon on January 13, Chiang Ching-kuo suddenly coughed up a large amount of blood and passed away. The enfeebled Fang-liang could only cry in the adjoining room where her oxygen trolley was located.
What could not be foreseen was that within four years two of Fang-liang's sons would also be dead.
Where is her home?
The family album does not stop here however. Fang-liang's determined figure was soon quickly moving between the official residences at Ta-chi and Chiang Ching-kuo's grave at Touliao. She liked to linger over and caress "Guo's" marble tomb, and when she passed his bronze statue she would wind down the car window and wave and sit for a while.
She also traveled to the distant island of Kinmen to see her husband's memorial building. When her granddaughter, You-mei, returns from England to see Granny, we can again see a smile appear on her face.
In the summer of 1992, the Chihai residence saw a visit from the mayor of Minsk. Accompanied by her eldest daughter-in-law, Fang-liang received a present of black bread from her homeland, leaving her again with the familiar grin of the old photographs. "I have not been back for 50 years," she said.
Indeed, Fang-liang has never been back to her home town. In the Autumn of 1992, though, with her second eldest son, Hsiao-yung, she did go to visit her daughter's home in America, where she stayed with Hsiao-yung in San Francisco for a short time. "It was on the morning of the second day that she said she was homesick," recalls Li Tsu-i, the Chihai bodyguard who accompanied her.
After staying in America for a month, Fang-liang returned to Chihai. Just as before, she would still go to "Guo's" old study to sit for a while every day. Four years later, Hsiao-yung died of cancer.
Caring mother, simple life
Alone and such a long way from home, on looking back, the affairs of the past seem to exist only in the family album. Yet piece by piece they present history as if it were yesterday.
As well as her oldest daughter-in-law regularly accompanying her, sometimes Chiang Ching-kuo's old bodyguards drop in to see her, long after their retirement. Every year, they still remember to send flowers to the "boss's wife" on her birthday. They make sure to arrange activities, taking her out to lift her mood, maintaining that caring and sincere smile that features again and again throughout the album.
Fang-liang's daughter-in-law, Chiang Hsu Nai-chin, in describing this mother-in-law who was once honored as the First Lady, but who always lived simply and without making demands, remarked, "It is very natural for a woman to want things; but when she does not want things, then they lose their importance."
The power of love is so great that it can make people leave their homeland for distant places. It is said that Heaven cares especially for the small blades of grass, and that age brings sagacity. Do you dare ask where home is? Surely it is where the heart is. And everything that is of importance to Fang-liang is in the photograph album.
p.38
"Love to my wife Fang". Chiang Ching-kuo as head of the training inspection department for new recruits in the security bureau of Jiangxi province (1939).
p.39
The Chiangs photographed a few days after their ninth wedding anniversary (1944).
p.40
After the October Revolution the Soviet Union became the promised land for full-blooded youth. Can you find the young Faina and Nicolai in the picture?
p.41
Fang-liang's original name was Faina. Having lost her parents when young, she survived with the support of her elder sister.
p.42
The couple's second wedding at the old family home in Xikou (1937).
p.43
Pregnant with Hsiao-chang, Fang-liang is pictured with mother-in-law Mao Fu-mei and eldest son Hsiao-wen (1937).
Chiang Ching-kuo in the Gannan period with second son Hsiao-wu.
Fang-liang often traveled between Gannan, Chongqing and Xikou to visit her mother-in law and look after her children.
p.44
"A happy family." Fang-liang with Hsiao-wen and Hsiao-chang in Chongqing.
With a passion for photography, the young Chiang Ching-kuo takes a portrait of his wife.
p.45
A photo for "Sister Fang" signed by "Chien-feng," an early name given to Chiang Ching-kuo at home.
p.46
Fang-liang photographed on her 35th birthday (1950). (photo by C.Y. Wu)
p.47
The family wishes Hsiao-yung a happy third birthday (1951). (photo by OMEA)
p.48
Fang-liang leads members of the Women's League and friends on a trip to Mount Ali in 1955.
p.49
Hsiao-wen paints with his little brother at home in Chang An East Road (1954).
Hsiao-wu and Hsiao-yung keep their father company while he reads the paper in the garden.
Dad takes a break from his busy schedule to take the family on a picnic.
p.50
Wedding anniversary celebrations with friends at Changan East Road.
The couple don Russian costumes to dance on their 22nd anniversary (1958).
Chiang Ching-kuo's skill at this Chinese drinking game is recorded in Ray Cline's memoirs.
p.51
American friends often feature in pictures taken at Chang-an East Road.
Dinner at Chiang Kai-shek's official mansion in Shilin (1952).
Hsiao-wen made up as a Native American chief and his mother with a "big-nose" mask (1956).
p.52
Fang-liang with Madame Song Mei-ling.
Fang-liang accompanies members of the Women's League to visit sick soldiers, (1953).
Fang-liang breaks the ground for an armed forces nursery (1954). (photo by C.Y. Wu)
p.53
Hsiao-yung cuts the ribbon for the armed forces nursery. (photo by C.Y. Wu)
p.54
"Brother, do you know who this aboriginal girl is?" (1956)
p.55
Hsiao-chang and her mother on holiday with Grandad at Hsi-tsu Bay in 1958, shortly before Hsiao-chang left for America. (photo by C.Y. Wu)
Hsiao-chang's 15th birthday and Dad entertains her friends. (1953)
With Hsiao-chang in America, her birthday party photograph is taken in her absence. (photo by Shen Hsin-nan, 1959)
Unable to express their emotions through a long-distance phone call, Mum and Dad could say a lot more to their daughter through a tape recording. (photo by Shen Hsin-nan, 1959)
p.56
A photo "To Darling Mother" from Hsiao-wen.
p.57
Hsiao-wen dining at home with friends from the US Embassy before leaving the country. (photo by OMEA, 1957)
Sitting by a photograph of her daughter, Fang-liang holds a picture of her son Hsiao-wen and his wife, Hsu Nai-chin (1960).
With the children having stretched their wings and left the nest, Mum is left at home with just the company of a lot of photographs. (photo by OMEA, 1960)
I'm a granddad! Chiang Ching-kuo shows off a picture of his granddaughter, You-mei, to Ray Cline's wife (1961).
p.58
Hsiao-yung studied at prepatory classes for military academy, but had to turn to studying politics at Taiwan University due to a foot injury. (photo by C.Y. Wu, 1964)
Look carefully, who is doing the grass-skirt dance? A photo taken at Tzu-en in 1964.
p.59
With Chiang Ching-kuo away in Kinmen, his brother Wei-kuo had to take his place to cut his wedding anniversary cake. (photo by OMEA, 1966)
p.60
The guests of honor at the couple's golden wedding anniversary were General Chang Hsueh-liang, famous for his part in the Xian Incident, and his wife. (photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1985)
p.61
A chair-bound Chiang Ching-kuo greets his daughter at CKS International Airport on her return from abroad. (photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1986)
Hsiao-wu with his children, You-sung and You-lan, pictured in their grandfather's office. (photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1979)
p.62
Hsiao-yung and his wife would often go to the Chihai residence with their children to eat with their mother. (photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1989)
A guest from afar brings some black bread from Fang-liang's homeland. (photo by Kao Chih-wei)
You-mei returns from abroad to see Fang-liang. On the buffet is a picture of Fang-liang and Chiang Ching-kuo in younger days. (photo by Kao Chih-wei)
p.63
Fang-liang and a bust of Chiang Ching-kuo by the artist Sun Chao. Dare one ask where home is? It is certainly where the heart is. (photo by Kao Chih-wei)
After the October Revolution the Soviet Union became the promised land for full-blooded youth. Can you find the young Faina and Nicolai in the picture?
Fang-liang's original name was Faina. Having lost her parents when young, she survived with the support of her elder sister.
The couple's second wedding at the old family home in Xikou （1937）.
Pregnant with Hsiao-chang, Fang-liang is pictured with mother-in-law Mao Fu-mei and eldest son Hsiao-wen （1937）.
Chiang Ching-kuo in the Gannan period with second son Hsiao-wu.
Fang-liang often traveled between Gannan, Chongqing and Xikou to visit her mother-in-law and look after her children.
"A happy family." Fang-liang with Hsiao-wen and Hsiao-chang in Chongqing.
With a passion for photography, the young Chiang Ching-kuo takes a portrait of his wife.
"A happy family." Fang-liang with Hsiao-wen and Hsiao-chang in Chongqing.
With a passion for photography, the young Chiang Ching-kuo takes a portrait of his wife.
A photo for "Sister Fang" signed by "Chien-feng," an early name given to Chiang Ching-kuo at home.
Fang-liang photographed on her 35th birthday （1950）. （photo by C.Y. Wu）
The family wishes Hsiao-yung a happy third birthday （1951）. （photo by OMEA）
Fang-liang leads members of the Women's League and friends on a trip to Mount Ali in 1955.
Hsiao-wen paints with his little brother at home in Chang An East Road （1954）.
Hsiao-wu and Hsiao-yung keep their father company while he reads the paper in the garden.
Dad takes a break from his busy schedule to take the family on a picnic.
Wedding anniversary celebrions with friends at Changan East Road.
The couple don Russian costumes to dance on their 22nd anniversary （1958）.
Chiang Ching-kuo's skill at this Chinese drinking game is recorded in Ray Cline's memoirs.
American friends often feature in pictures taken at Chang-an East Road.
Dinner at Chiang Kai-shek's official mansion in Shilin （1952）.
Hsiao-wen made up as a Native American chief and his mother with a "big-nose" mask （1956）.
Fang-liang with Madame Song Mei-ling.
Fang-liang accompanies members of the Women's League to visit sick soldiers, （1953）.
Fang-liang breaks the ground for an armed forces nursery （1954）. （photo by C.Y. Wu）
Hsiao-yung cuts the ribbon for the armed forces nursery. （photo by C.Y. Wu）
"Brother, do you know who this aboriginal girl is?" （1956）
Hsiao-chang and her mother on holiday with Grandad at Hsi-tsu Bay in 1958, shortly before Hsiao-chang left for America. （photo by C.Y. Wu）
Hsiao-chang's 15th birthday and Dad entertains her friends. （1953）
With Hsiao-chang in America, her birthday party photograph is taken in her absence. （photo by Shen Hsin-nan, 1959）
Unable to express their emotions through a long-distance phone call, Mum and Dad could say a lot more to their daughter through a tape recording. （photo by Shen Hsin-nan, 1959）
A photo "To Darling Mother" from Hsiao-Wen.
Hsiao-wen dining at home with friends from the US Embassy before leaving the country. （photo by OMEA, 1957）
With the children having stretched their wings and left the nest, Mum is left at home with just the company of a lot of photographs. （photo by OMEA, 1960）
Sitting by a photograph of her daughter, Fang-liang holds a picture of her son Hsiao-wen and his wife, Hsu Nai-chin （1960）.
I'm a granddad! Chiang Ching-kuo shows off a picture of his granddaughter, You-mei, to Ray Cline's wife （1961）.
Hsiao-yung studied at prepatory classes for military academy, but had to turn to studying politics at Taiwan University due to a foot injury. （photo by C.Y. Wu, 1964）
Look carefully, who is doing the grass-skirt dance? A photo taken at Tzu-en in 1964.
With Chiang Ching-kuo away in Kinmen, his brother Wei-kuo had to take his place to cut his wedding anniversary cake. （photo by OMEA, 1966）
The guests of honor at the couple's golden wedding anniversary were General Chang Hsueh-liang, famous for his part in the Xian Incident, and his wife. （photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1985）
A chair-bound Chiang Ching-kuo greets his daughter at CKS International Airport on her return from abroad. （photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1986）
Hsiao-wu with his children, You-sung and You-lan, pictured in their grandfather's office. （photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1979）
Hsiao-yung and his wife would often go to the Chihai residence with their children to eat with their mother. （photo by Kao Chih-wei, 1989）
A guest from afar brings some black bread from Fang-liang's homeland. （photo by Kao Chin-wei）
You-mei returns from abroad to see Fang-liang. On the buffet is a picture of Fang-liang and Chiang Ching-kuo in younger days. （photo by Kao Chih-wei）
Fang-liang and a bust of Chiang Ching-kuo by the artist Sun Chao. Dare one ask where home is? It is certainly where the heart is. （photo by Kao Chih-wei）
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