The Soong House on Seymour Road: A Pictorial Tour

There are several Soong houses in Shanghai that you can visit, but the modest house on Shaanxi Bei Lu that was the family home for more than a decade is not open to the public. So, for your viewing pleasure, some photos (from our private 2020 visit)!

If you’d like to learn more about the fascinating Soongs and their Shanghai story, read “The Soong Dynasty” and join us at book club on August 31 – details here.

Built in 1908, the house was purchased in 1918 – or perhaps earlier, but the family didn’t move in until after patriarch Charlie Soong had died (of stomach cancer. Or was he poisoned? To discuss!) Before this, the family had lived in Hongkou for decades, so why the move? Perhaps it was daughter Mayling, then 20, who had complained that their Hongkou house wasn’t big enough, and who wanted to be closer to the Shanghai action? Perhaps the decision came from Mammy herself—maybe she wanted a fresh started, maybe, as a Shanghai girl, she, too, wanted to be closer to the city.

The Soongs are long gone, but the legacy remains: the house is now the offices of the Soong Ching Ling Foundation.

The Soongs were known for their wealth, but the house, while lovely, isn’t particularly grand. (Maybe their money was spent on revolution instead of magnificent mansions; maybe as a devout Christian,they didn’t hold with ostentation.) Instead, it’s a comfortable family house that was home to Mammy, Mayling, and the two youngest sons, T.L. and T.A. (Eldest daughter Ai-ling and second daughter Ching Ling were already married; eldest son T.V. was at Columbia University, at graduate school). Best of all, lots of original detail that’s been nicely maintained for over a century, and some rather spectacular historic gems.

The living room flows into the dining room, with floor-to-ceiling views of the garden – it’s easy to imagine a Soong soirée here, a fire blazing in one of the ceramic-tiled fireplaces and Mayling tinkling the ivories on her Moutrie piano. A little more imagination is required in the dining room, where columns have been incongruously added, breaking up the space and, well, just not matching anything else in the house! These were added during the time when the house served as a club for retired officials, so no doubt it was considered an upgrade.

The original details are priceless, and so are the stories: it was in the first floor study, with its charming corner windows, that Chiang Kai-Shek proposed to Soong Mayling, we’re told.

Also priceless: Soong artefacts, found throughout the house. In a bedroom stands a pretty antique cupboard: Mayling’s qipao closet. (Surely she needed a larger closet for her qipaos? But maybe that came later.)

In the a corner of the living room is a piano, the Moutrie piano that Mayling loved playing. Sydenham Moutrie began importing pianos in the 1870s, and by 1890, he was making them in Shanghai, with local labor. How many Moutrie pianos are left in Shanghai, one wonders?

In an upstairs bathroom is an original bathtub – taps, faucets, and all – where, we were told, Mayling bathed in milk. While that does stretch credulity, Mayling had famously sensitive skin, so perhaps that story is true!

In 1927, Mayling Soong married Chiang Kai-shek from this house, and in 1931, Mammy Soong died. The boys went on their way, and after the 1949 revolution, although the house became state property, Soong Ching Ling – the only Soong to remain – retained a say in the fate of her family house. In 1952, her great friend Talitha Gerlach, a consultant for the China Welfare Institute, lived here for a decade. It had a stint as a private club for retired officials, after which it became the home of the foundation that bears Soong Ching Ling’s name.