Chiang Wei-kuo (Chinese: 蔣緯國, 蒋纬国; Hanyu Pinyin: Jiǎng Wěiguó), or Wego Chiang (October 6, 1916?September 22, 1997) was an adopted son of President Chiang Kai-shek, adoptive brother of President Chiang Ching-kuo, and an important figure in the Kuomintang (KMT). His nickname was Jianhao (建鎬) and sobriquet Niantang (念堂). Early life Born in Tokyo when Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT was exiled to Japan by the Beiyang Government, Chiang Wei-kuo has long been speculated to be an offspring of Tai Chi-tao and a Japanese woman, Shigematsu Kaneko (重松金子). Chiang Wei-kuo previously discredited any such claims and insisted he was a legitimate son of Chiang Kai-shek until his later years(1988), when he admitted that he was adopted. [1] According to popular gossip, Tai believed knowledge of his Japanese tryst would destroy his marriage and his career, so he entrusted Wei-kuo to Chiang Kai-shek, after the Japanese Yamada Juntaro (山田純太郎) brought the infant to Shanghai. Yao Yecheng (姚冶誠), Chiang's wife at the time, raised Wei-kuo as her own. The boy called Tai his "Dear Uncle" (親伯). Chiang moved to the Chiang ancestral home in Xikuo Town of Fenghua in 1910. Wei-kuo studied at Soochow University. With his sibling held as a virtual political hostage by Stalin, Chiang sent Wei-kuo to Germany for a military education at the Munich Military Academy. Here, he would learn the most up to date German military tactical doctrines, organization, and use of weaponry on the modern battlefield such as the German-inspired theory of the Maschinengewehr (Medium machine gun, at this time, the MG-34) led squad, incorporation of Air and Armored branches into Infantry attack, etc. After completing this training, Wei-kuo completed specialized Alpine warfare training, thus earning him the coveted Gebirgsjäger (The elite Wehrmacht Mountain Troop) Edelwiess sleeve insignia. This was not an easy accomplishment, as part of the training selection included carrying 30 kilos of ruck sack through the Bavarian Alps. Wei-kuo was promoted to Unteroffizier (also known as Fahnenjunker, or Officer Candidate)and was evidently a fine marksman, as his pictures depict him wearing the Schützenschnur lanyard. Wei-kuo commanded a Panzer during the 1938 Austrian Anschluss, leading a tank into that country; subsequently, he was promoted to Leutnant (Lieutenant) of a Panzer unit awaiting to be sent into Poland. Before he was given the mobilization order, he was recalled to China. There, Wei-kuo became a Major at 28, a Lieutenant Colonel at 29, a Colonel at 32, and later, a Major General. Wei-kuo was in charge of a M4 Sherman tank battalion during 1948 Nationalist-Communist campaign against Deng Xiao Ping's troops, scoring some early victories. In 1949 he moved his armor regiment to Taiwan. In 1944, he married Shih Chin-i(石靜宜), the daughter of Shih Feng-hsiang (石鳳翔), a textile tycoon from North West China. Shih died in 1953 during a child birth. Wei-kuo later established the Jinsin Elementary School (靜心小學) in Taipei to commemorate his late wife. In 1957, Chiang re-married, to Chiu Ju-hsüeh (丘如雪), also known as Chiu Ai-lun (邱愛倫), a daughter of Chinese and German parents. Chiu gave birth to Chiang's only son, Chiang Hsiao-kang, (蔣孝剛) in 1962. Chiang Hsiao-kang is the youngest of the Hsiao generation of the Chiang family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Wei-kuo
