Editing Soong Mei-ling (section)

==Early life==
Soong Mei-ling was born in the Song family home, a traditional house called Neishidi (內史第), in [[Pudong]], [[Shanghai]], China.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinanews.com/cul/2016/04-10/7829012.shtml|title=探访传奇老宅"内史第"：百年上海的文化密码|date=April 10, 2016|website=China News|access-date=October 18, 2019}}</ref> Her passport issued by the [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] government showed that she was born on 4 March 1898. Some sources said she was born on 5 March 1898 at St. Luke's Hospital in [[Shanghai]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=辛亥革命功臣里的宋氏家族女眷(4)_升华天下{{!}}辛亥革命网{{!}}辛亥革命112周年,辛亥网 |url=http://www.xhgmw.com/m/view.php?aid=2407&pageno=4 |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=www.xhgmw.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Karon|first1=Tony|title=Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, 1898-2003|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,526008,00.html|access-date=August 12, 2017|magazine=Time|date=October 24, 2003|archive-date=May 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510092754/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,526008,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> while others gave the year as 1897, since [[East Asian age reckoning|Chinese tradition considers one to be a year old at birth]].<ref name="birth">{{cite web|title=Form of Chinese Certificate for Soong May Ling (future wife of Chiang Kei-shek).|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/298972|quote=Date of birth: 12th day of the 2nd mon., 24th year of [[Guangxu_Emperor|Kuang Hsu]] (3-4-98)|website=National Archive|date=July 31, 1907}}. While records at Wellesley College and the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' indicate she was born in 1897, the Republic of China government as well as the BBC and the ''New York Times'' cite her year of birth as 1898.{{clarify|reason=Which sources claim "1898" and which claim "1897"? Right now, this note says that Wellesley, Britannica, ROC, BBC & NYT all claim 1897.|date=May 2016}} The ''New York Times'' obituary includes the following explanation: "Some references give 1897 as the year because the Chinese usually consider everyone to be one year old at birth." cf: [[East Asian age reckoning]]. However, early sources such as the ''Columbia Encyclopedia'', 1960, give her date of birth as 1896, making it possible that "one year" was subtracted twice.</ref><ref name=nytobit/>

She was the fourth of six children of [[Charlie Soong]], a wealthy businessman and former [[Methodist]] missionary from [[Hainan]], and his wife Ni Kwei-tseng ({{zh|labels=no |c=倪桂珍 |p=Ní Guìzhēn}}). Mei-ling's siblings were eldest sister [[Soong Ai-ling|Ai-ling]], second sister [[Soong Ching-ling|Ching-ling]], who later became Madame [[Sun Yat-sen]], elder brother [[T. V. Soong|Tse-ven]], usually known as T. V. Soong, and younger brothers Tse-liang (T.L.) and Tse-an (T.A.).<ref>{{cite book|last=Tyson Li |first=Laura |title=[[Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady]] |year=2006 |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8021-4322-8 |page=5}}</ref>