Early Life
As one of two sons of Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Wei-kuo's name has a particular meaning as intended by his father. "Wei" literally means "parallel (of latitude)" while "kuo" means "nation"; in his brother's name, "Ching" literally means "longitude". The names are inspired by the references in Chinese classics such as the Guoyu, in which "to draw the longitudes and latitudes of the world" is used as a metaphor for a person with great abilities, especially in managing a country.
Born in Tokyo when Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT were exiled to Japan by the Beiyang Government, Chiang Wei-kuo has long been speculated to be an offspring of Tai Chi-tao and a Japanese woman, Shigematsu Kaneko (重松金子?). Chiang Wei-kuo previously discredited any such claims and insisted he was a legitimate son of Chiang Kai-shek until his later years (1988), when he admitted that he was adopted.
According to popular gossip, Tai believed knowledge of his Japanese tryst would destroy his marriage and his career, so he entrusted Wei-kuo to Chiang Kai-shek, after the Japanese Yamada Juntaro (山田純太郎?) brought the infant to Shanghai. Yao Yecheng (姚冶誠), a concubine of Chiang Kai-shek at the time, raised Wei-kuo as his foster mother. The boy called Tai his "Dear Uncle" (親伯).
Chiang moved to the Chiang ancestral home in Xikou Town of Fenghua in 1910. Wei-kuo later studied Economics at Soochow University.
Read more about this topic: Chiang Wei-kuo
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