Mayling Soong’s
address at New York City Hall:
If we
thought we were fighting alone, if we thought we were fighting only for China,
to be very frank with you, China would not be the China of today, but would
have been a conquered China. But we realized that justice will prevail and that
the people of America knew and realized what was at stake. Perhaps I can best
illustrate to you what I mean by a little story. More than two thousand years
ago, in the reign of Tsin-Shi Wang, the emperor who built the Great Wall, there
were continually overflowing, and causing death and destruction to many
thousands of people in that part of the country. The emperor sent a very high
official to build dykes to prevent the floods. The official failed and he paid
the final penalty for his failure. The emperor sent a second high official. The
second official also failed. He too paid the final penalty. Finally he sent a
third man, this man succeeded and high honors were bestowed upon him. When I
visited the spot last year with Generalissimo, we found three graves there. I
asked, “Why are there three graves?” and I was told, “these are the graves of
three men, the two who had attempted to make the dyke and failed, and the third
who succeeded.” I asked why was the third man buried with the other two. And the
reply was that when the third official succeeded and honors were bestowed upon
him, he declined the honors and killed himself because, he said, he could not
profit himself by the price others had paid with their lives. I feel that
American people have the same highmindedness. They would not benefit from the
price anyone else had paid for liberty or freedom. This highmindedness, this
integrity, this feeling that we shall suffer with others, and together work and
strive for a common cause, constitute the common meeting ground for your people
and mine.
In Mayling’s Chicago
address:
There
are peoples and nations who are yet bent on tramping underfoot the inalienable
rights and diginity of men. They have not the eyes to see that over the blue
horizon, beyond the smoky ruins following in the wake of the bursting bombs,
there is a vision of a new world – a world founded on practiced justive and equality
for all mankind.
Mayling’s speech
before the House of Representatives:
The 160
years of traditional friendship between our two great peoples, China and
America, which has never been marred by misunderstandings, is unsurpassed in
the annals of the world. I can also assure you that China is eager and ready to
co-operate with you and other peoples to lay a true and lasting foundation for
a sane and progressive world society which would make it impossible for any
arrogant or predatory neighbor to plung future generations into another orgy of
blood.
In the
past, China has not computed the cost to her manpower in her fight against
aggression, although she well realized that manpower is the real wealth of a
nation and it takes generations to grow it. She has been soberly conscious of
her responsibilities and has not concerned herself with privileges and gains
which she might have obtained through compromise of principles. Nor will she
demean herself and all she holds dear to the practices of the market place. We in
China, like you, want a better world no for ourselves alone but for all
mankind, and we must have it. It is not enough, however, to proclaim our ideals
or even to be convinced that we have them. In order to preserve, uphold and
maintain them, there are times when we should throw all we cherish into our
effort to fulfill these ideals even at the risk of failure.
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