Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887–April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. He commanded the Northern Expedition to unify China against the warlords and emerged victorious in 1928 as the overall leader of the Republic of China (ROC). Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which Chiang's stature within China weakened but his international prominence grew. During the Chinese Civil War (1926–1949), Chiang attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists but ultimately failed, forcing his government to retreat to Taiwan, where he continued serving as the President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the KMT for the remainder of his life.

Names

Like many other Chinese historical figures, Chiang Kai-shek used several names throughout his life, and he is known under several of these names.

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The "real" name of Chiang Kai-shek (the concept of real or original name is not as clean-cut in China as it is in the Western world), the name inscribed in the genealogical records of his family, is Jiang Zhoutai (???). This "register name" (??) is the name under which his extended relatives of the family knew him, this is a name that was used in formal occasions, such as when he got married. Traditionally, this name was not used in intercourse with people outside of the family, and inside mainland China or Taiwan few people know that his real name was Jiang Zhoutai (although other historical figures such as Mao Zedong are known by their "register name").

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This name, however, was not the name that he received when he was born. Traditionally, Chinese families would wait a certain number of years before officially naming their offspring. In the meantime, they used so-called "milk names" (??) which were given to the infant shortly after his birth, and which were known only by the close family. Thus, the actual name that Chiang Kai-shek received at birth was Jiang Ruiyuan (???), but again this is a fact rarely known in mainland China or Taiwan, and only his parents would have used the given name Ruiyuan when calling him.

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In 1903, 16-year-old Chiang Kai-shek went to Ningpo to be a student, and he chose a so-called "school name" (??). The "school name" was actually the formal name of a person, the name used by older people to call the person, so it was the name that the person would use the most in the first decades of his life (as the person grew older, younger generations would have to use one of the courtesy names instead). Colloquially, the "school name" is called "big name" (??), whereas the "milk name" is known as the "small name" (??). The "school name" that Chiang Kai-shek chose for himself was Zhiqing (?? - meaning "purity of intentions"). For the next fifteen years or so, Chiang Kai-shek was known as Jiang Zhiqing. This is the name under which Sun Yat-sen knew him when Chiang joined the republicans in Guangzhou in the 1910s.

Related Topics:
1903 - Ningpo - Courtesy name - Sun Yat-sen - Guangzhou

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In 1912, when Chiang Kai-shek was in Japan, he started to use the name Jiang Jieshi (???) as a pen name for the articles that he published in a Chinese magazine he founded (Voice of the Army - ??). This name Jieshi soon became his courtesy name (?). Many interpretations of this name circulate. Some think the name was chosen from the classic Chinese book the Book of Changes, other note that jie (?), the first character of his courtesy name, is also the first character of the courtesy name of his brother and other male relatives on the same generation line, while the second character of his courtesy name shi (? - meaning "stone") reminds of the second character of his "register name" tai (? - the famous Mount Tai of China). Courtesy names in China often tried to bear a connection with the personal name of the person. As the courtesy name is the name used by people of the same generation to call the person, Chiang Kai-shek soon became known under this new name, pronounced Jieshi in Mandarin, but pronounced Kai-shek in Cantonese. As the republicans were based in Guangzhou (in Cantonese speaking area), Chiang Kai-shek became known by Westerners under the Cantonese romanization of his courtesy name (but the family name known in English seems to be the Mandarin pronunciation of his Chinese family name, transliterated in Wade-Giles; the Cantonese pronunciation of his family name is closer to "Cheng"). In mainland China, this is still the name under which he is commonly known today, but pronounced in Mandarin: Jiang Jieshi.

Related Topics:
1912 - Japan - Courtesy name - Book of Changes - Mount Tai - Mandarin - Cantonese - Wade-Giles

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Sometime in 1917 or 1918, as Chiang was coming to the forefront among the republicans and became close to Sun Yat-sen, he changed his name from Jiang Zhiqing to Jiang Zhongzheng (???). By adopting the name Zhongzheng ("central uprightness"), he was choosing a name very similar to the name of Sun Yat-sen, who was (and still is) known among Chinese as Zhongshan (?? - meaning "central mountain"), establishing a close link between the two. The meaning of uprightness, rectitude, or orthodoxy, implied by his name, also positioned him as the legitimate heir of Sun Yat-sen and his ideas. Not surprisingly, the Chinese Communists always rejected the use of this name, and the name is not very well known in mainland China. However, this name was easily accepted by members of the Nationalist Party, and this is the name under which Chiang Kai-shek is still officially known in Taiwan. Often, the name is shortened to Zhongzheng only (Chung-cheng in Wade-Giles) in the style of typical courtesy names (out of respect). Visitors who arrive at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei are greeted by signs in Chinese welcoming them to the Chung-cheng International Airport. Similarly, the largest monument in Taipei, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is officially in Chinese called the Chung-cheng Memorial Hall.

Related Topics:
1917 - 1918 - Sun Yat-sen - Mainland China - Nationalist Party - Taiwan - Wade-Giles - Chiang Kai-shek International Airport - Taipei - Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

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His name also used to be officially written in Taiwan as "The Late President (space) Lord Chiang" (??????), where the one-character-wide space showed respect; this practice lost its popularity after Taiwan's democratization in the 1990s.

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Chiang was also nicknamed "the Gimo" (short for "Generalissimo") by some English-speaking foreigners, especially by Americans during the Second World War.

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