Who Was Chiang Kai-Shek?

Chiang Kai-Shek was both a military and political Chinese leader who came to assume leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) in the year 1925 after the death of Sun Yat-sen.

He was born to Chiang Zhaocong and Wang Caiyu on October 31, 1887 in the town of Xikou in China. His parents belonged to the upper-middle class and were a salt merchant family. He was just a child of three when his father died. Of his mother, he wrote that she was the "embodiment of Confucian virtues." He was married to Mao Fumei, fellow villager in an arranged marriage. They had a son named Ching-Kuo and a daughter called Chien-hua.

He steadily rose to power and was made president of both KMT and Taiwan. He died at age 87 in Taipei, Taiwan. His current popularity is sharply split along political lines in Taiwan.

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