Known as "mother of the nation," Soong Ching Ling loved children and often invited them to her home.

The founder of China Reconstructs was the great Chinese woman, Soong Ching Ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, the pioneer of China's democratic revolution.

In 1951, two years after the People's Republic of China was founded, at the time of the Korean war, the United States was doing its best to starve new China through its blockades. Contrary to rumor, China was in the process of reconstruction. Its people had shaken off the yoke of old forces and begun a new life. Factories recommenced production, and peasants were allocated land. The whole country appeared as a picture of prosperity. To this day, there are many Chinese people that believe the early days of reconstruction in the 1950s were the most exciting.

Zhou Enlai, great statesman, and first premier and foreign minister of new China, wanted to publish a magazine that would tell the world about the real situation in China, and break through the stranglehold of Western hegemony. He thought of Soong Ching Ling.

Soong Ching Ling had, in her early 20s, followed Sun Yat-sen in his search for the road that would liberate the Chinese people, and studied at the Wesleyan College for Women in Macon, Georgia, the United States. Her father was a Christian. Soong Ching Ling was an ardent patriot who also advocated internationalism, and her life-long pursuit was peace and friendship among humankind. During World War II, when the Chinese people fought against Japanese militarist aggression, and throughout post-war reconstruction, she won the respect and esteem of the Chinese people and of the peace-loving people of the West.

Soong Ching Ling was a born information disseminator. While a student at the Wesleyan College, she was literary editor of the school journal. Her English was outstanding, even compared to her hundreds of American fellow students. In the course of helping Sun Yat-sen work in the revolutionary cause, Soong Ching Ling became his right arm, as Sun frequently wrote letters to friends all over the world, telling them how the Chinese revolution was advancing. Madame Soong also founded an English-language magazine, Newsletter, a publication run by the China Defense League with the aim of winning sympathy and support from people of the world for the Chinese people. A foreign language magazine aimed at international communications was, therefore, obviously Soong Ching Ling's forte.

On August 30, 1951, the first preparatory meeting of China Reconstructs magazine was presided over by Soong Ching Ling at the China Welfare Institute headquarters in Shanghai. At this meeting, the goal of the magazine was set -- "to reach the progressive personages and liberals in capitalist and colonialist countries, and those who sympathize or may sympathize with China, especially professionals, scientists and artists who sincerely pursue world peace, but who are not advanced politically." The contents of the magazine would "concentrate on reporting China's social, economic, cultural, educational, relief and welfare developments, so that the broad strata abroad might know how China's reconstruction is progressing, and about the efforts made by the people towards this end." As an unofficial magazine, they determined that: "In general the magazine does not carry the original texts of official documents, political reports, theories and military affairs." They demanded that "Articles must be rich in content, suitable for both refined and popular taste, and with illustrations or pictures."

Soong Ching Ling (right) in 1912 at the Wesleyan College for Women in the United States, where her notable talents and lofty ideals made her an outstanding student.

Soong Ching Ling entrusted the work of establishing China Reconstructs to Jin Zhonghua and Chen Hansheng. Jin Zhonghua was a famous social activist, an expert in international communications, vice mayor of Shanghai, and a long-time friend of Soong Ching Ling. Chen Hansheng had studied in the USA and Germany, and had obtained a master's degree from Chicago University, and a Ph.D from Berlin University. He excelled in English, German and Russian, and had formerly worked as editor for the Far East Bulletin in Hong Kong. Soong Ching Ling believed his versatility and experience eminently qualified him for this job. Gu Shuxing, wife of Chen Hansheng and herself a famous photographer, also participated in the work of China Reconstructs, serving as "chairperson of the multi-color committee."

Soong Ching Ling also invited Israel Epstein, a well-known journalist from the United States, to act as executive editor, and his wife, Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley, was engaged as main advisor for China Reconstructs. Li Boti, who had returned to China from the United States and had worked as a reporter for the Tianjin branch of the Xinhua News Agency, became the magazine editor. It was through the help and efforts of these people that China Reconstructs embarked on its international communications.

At the initial stages, the editorial board of China Reconstructs was located at this siheyuan in Beijing, and its printing and distribution took place at the China Welfare Institute in Shanghai.

It may well be imagined how this old courtyard in Beijing reverberated with the pounding staccato of typewriter keys, while graced with the presence of scholars who had studied abroad, as well as being frequented by then rarely seen foreigners. The tolerance of new China was palpable through these innovations.

The legendary birth of China Reconstructs enabled it to undergo necessary development in later years, and its contribution to China's international communication and diplomacy could never be overestimated. Current international communication in China encompasses over 1,000 newspapers and periodicals, all of which began with China Reconstructs; a single "experimental plot."