Chen Jieru

{{short description|Second wife of Chiang Kai-shek}}

{{other people|Chen Chieh-ju}}

{{family name hatnote|Chen|lang=Chinese}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| pre-nominals =

| name = Chen Jieru

| post-nominals =

| image = Chen Jieru.jpg

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name = 陳潔如

| native_name_lang = zh

| pronunciation =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1906|8|26}}

| birth_place = Shanghai, Jiangsu, Qing Dynasty

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1971|1|21|1906|8|26}}

| death_place = British Hong Kong

| death_cause =

| resting_place = Fushou Park, Qingpu, Shanghai

| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|31|06|32.7|N|121|07|46.6|E|type:landmark|display=inline}}

| monuments =

| nationality = Republic of China

| other_names =

| citizenship =

| education =

| alma_mater =

| occupation =

| agent =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| style =

| party = Kuomintang

| spouse = {{marriage|Chiang Kai-shek|1921|1927}}

| children = Chiang Yao-kuang (adopted)

| mother =

| father =

| relatives =

| family =

| signature =

| signature_size =

| signature_alt =

| footnotes =

}}

{{Chinese

|order=ts

|t=陳潔如

|s=陈洁如

|p=Chén Jiérú

|w=Ch'en2 Chieh2-ju2

}}

Chen Jieru ({{zh|t=陳潔如}}; 26 August 1906 – 21 January 1971), also romanized Ch'en Chieh-ju, was the second wife of Chiang Kai-shek. She was nicknamed Jennie.Chang, Laurence. The Zhangs from Nanxun: A One Hundred and Fifty Year Chronicle of a Chinese Family. CF Press, 2010. {{ISBN|0692008454}}, 9780692008454. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UI3_-7dMPIoC&pg=PA199 199].

Chen's ancestral hometown was Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, but she was born in Shanghai. She wrote a memoir which Chiang successfully suppressed during his lifetime.[http://news.sina.com.cn/cul/2004-11-01/57.html 《人物：红颜命薄--做了七年蒋介石夫人的陈洁如(图)》]，摘自赵宏著《蒋介石家族的女人们》，news.sina.com.cn轉載。{{cite journal |date=December 1994 |title=Review: Chiang Kai-shek's Secret Past: The Memoir of His Second Wife, Ch'en Chieh-ju. Edited and with an introduction by Lloyd E. Eastman. [Boulder: Westview Press, 1993. 273 pp. £20.95. ISBN 0-8133-1824-6.] |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3649808 |journal=China Quarterly |publisher=Cambridge University Journals |volume=140 |pages=1162–1163 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000053091 |s2cid=154586250 |access-date=10 November 2014 }}

It was finally published in 1993.{{cite book |last1=Ch'en |first1=Chieh-ju |last2=Lee |first2=James |editor1-last=Eastman |editor1-first=Lloyd E. |date=1993 |title=Chiang Kai-shek's Secret Past: The Memoir of His Second Wife, Ch'en Chieh-ju |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDbvAzXCBH8C |location=Boulder, Colorado |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-1824-6 |access-date=10 November 2014 }} In the memoir, Chen details how she and Chiang Kai-shek met at the home of a mutual friend in 1918 and how he pursued her, finally convincing her to marry him on 5 December 1921 by stating that his arranged marriage with Mao Fumei was unhappy and celibate, and his liaison with Yao Yecheng was a social courtesy following her disfigurement. The couple held their wedding at East Hotel in Shanghai.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bestchinanews.com/History/14723.html|title=The first lady hiding in the Republic of China hid many secrets of Jiang Jieshi|website=www.bestchinanews.com|access-date=23 November 2018}}

alt=Chen Jieru with daughter Chiang Yao-kuang on her lap, sitting in the grass at [[Whampoa Military Academy in 1926|left|thumb|Chen Jieru with daughter Chiang Yao-kuang at Whampoa Military Academy in 1926]]

Chiang promised Chen that he was marrying Soong Meiling ( "Madame Chiang") for political convenience before a Buddhist shrine, saying "Should I break my promise and fail to take her back, may the Great Buddha smite me and my Nanjing government.", and arranged for her to go to the United States on a five-year "study tour"; after this she was meant to return and married life would resume. However, once there, Chen learned from press articles that Chiang denied their marriage and said that he had paid for a "concubine" to move to the United States, which deeply aggrieved Chen.{{cite book|last1=Ryan|first1=Tom|title=China Rising: The Revolutionary Experience|date=2016|publisher=History Teachers' Association of Victoria|isbn=9781875585083|editor1-last=Purnell|editor1-first=Ingrid|location=Collingwood|page=79|editor2-last=Plozza|editor2-first=Shivaun|editor-link2=Shivaun Plozza}}