Editing Soong sisters (section)

=== Break-up and deaths ===
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru in Peking with Chou En-Lai and Madam Sun Yat-sen, 1954.jpg|thumb|Soong Ching-ling met [[Jawaharlal Nehru|Nehru]] with [[Zhou Enlai]] in [[Beijing]], 1954]]
[[File:蔣夫人宋美齡與在臺美軍一同勞軍 01.jpg|thumb|Soong Mei-ling visited [[United States Taiwan Defense Command|American soldiers in Taiwan]], 1964]]
In 1944, Soong Ai-ling left China for Brazil to receive medical treatment and later settled in the United States in 1946. In November 1948, Soong Mei-ling travelled to the United States to seek support for her husband, Chiang Kai-shek, and the Kuomintang. In May 1949, she wrote to Soong Ching-ling, asking if there was anything she could do for her sister in China. This letter marked the last communication between Mei-ling and Ching-ling. Following the Kuomintang's defeat in the Chinese Civil War, Mei-ling arrived in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1950, while Ching-ling remained on the mainland and joined the Communist-led government. In 1957, Ching-ling wrote to Ai-ling, requesting her to return to China.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |title=宋庆龄晚年思念宋美龄：不断假设其回国接待程序-中新网 |url=https://www.chinanews.com.cn/cul/2013/01-28/4525599.shtml |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=www.chinanews.com.cn}}</ref>

In 1969, Ai-ling and Mei-ling attended the funeral of their brother T. A. Soong in San Francisco, but Ching-ling was absent. In 1971, T. V. Soong passed away in San Francisco, and his funeral was scheduled to take place in New York. Mei-ling flew from Taiwan to Hawaii for a stopover, during which Chiang Kai-shek urged her to cancel her trip. She later learned that the Communist Chinese government had informed the U.S. government of Ching-ling’s intention to attend the funeral in New York. Consequently, Mei-ling and Ai-ling both cancelled their trips, and none of the sisters attended their brother's funeral. Ai-ling died in New York in 1973. Ching-ling had planned to reunite with Mei-ling in Japan before her death, which did not come true.<ref name=":14" />

In 1981, Ching-ling fell critically ill. Her family sent a telegram to Mei-ling, hoping for a reunion. Mei-ling responded, suggesting that Ching-ling be sent to New York, United States instead.<ref name=":14" /> As a potential family reunion in Beijing was seen as a threat to the legitimacy of her stepson, Taiwanese President [[Chiang Ching-kuo]]. Xinhua noted that other family members were present at the time of Soong's passing, she did not reunite with her sister.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soong Ching Ling, honorary president of China and the... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/05/29/Soong-Ching-Ling-honorary-president-of-China-and-the/7106359956800/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> She was later invited by the Communist Chinese government for the funeral,<ref name=":15">{{Cite news |last=The Associated Press |date=1981-05-30 |title=Soong Ching-ling dies in Peking; Widow of Sun Yat-sen was 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/30/obituaries/soong-ching-ling-dies-in-peking-widow-of-sun-yat-sen-was-90.html |work=New York Times}}</ref> but she told Chiang Ching-kuo, her stepson, that she would not come.<ref name=":14" /> Deng Xiaoping mentioned that Soong, the aunt of [[Chiang Ching-kuo]], had expressed hope for reunification talks between the governments of Beijing and Taipei in the near future.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sterba |first=James P. |date=June 4, 1981 |title=Soong Ching-Ling is eulogized by Deng |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/04/world/soong-ching-ling-is-eulogized-by-deng.html |work=[[New York Times]]}}</ref>

Ching-ling was buried in the Soong family graveyard in June. In January 1984, the cemetery was re-organised as the Mausoleum of Soong Ching Ling, Honorary Chairman of the People's Republic of China, which came under state protection in February 1982.<ref name="ndcnc">{{Cite web |title=宋庆龄陵园建设的前前后后 |url=http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/datalib/2004/Opus/DL/DL-230 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121127171416/http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/datalib/2004/Opus/DL/DL-230 |archive-date=2012-11-27 |accessdate=2010-05-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Qin |first=T. |last2=Wang |first2=Y. |last3=Li |first3=J. |last4=Tang |first4=Z. |last5=Dai |first5=S. |date=2021-08-28 |title=Conservation and Maintenance Concepts of Soong Ching Ling’s Dolomite Marble Statue in Shanghai and Supporting Survey Methods |url=https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLVI-M-1-2021/579/2021/ |journal=The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences |language=English |volume=XLVI-M-1-2021 |pages=579–584 |doi=10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVI-M-1-2021-579-2021 |issn=1682-1750 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Before Mei-ling died in 2003, she had refused to be buried in Taiwan and hoped to be buried with her parents in Shanghai, which was not acceptable for the Kuomintang. As a result, she was buried in the United States instead.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Müller |first=Gotelind |url=https://fid4sa-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/4474 |title=Chinese Grave Problems: The Historical Trajectory of the Republican-Era, Sun-Chiang-Soong Families as Mirrored in Their Tombs |date=2021 |publisher=[object Object] |doi=10.11588/xarep.00004474}}</ref>