Chiang Ching-kuo (1910-1988) became chairman of the ruling Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) in 1975 and president of the Republic of China in Taiwan in 1978. He was the elder son of Chiang Kai-shek, who led the KMT government until he died in 1975. Chiang Ching-kuo ruled until his death in 1988.

Chiang Ching-kuo was born in Fenghua, Chekiang Province. In early childhood he seldom saw his father and was brought up by his grandmother and mother in a Buddhist atmosphere. He was given a strict traditional Chinese education until he was 12 years of age when he left for Shanghai and Beijing to attend westernized schools. Chiang was a student activist and was involved in a number of anti-Japanese and anti-government protest movements.

In 1925 Chiang was one of 340 students elected to attend the Sun Yat-sen University of Moscow. At that time, his father was already a leading figure in the Kuomintang (KMT...