One Wore Blue, One Wore Grey -- Chinese Version
A large part of the mythology of the American Civil War is the stories of brothers who fought on opposite sides of the way. They are a favorite part of many Civil War novels (including that series which I can't remember the name of that had a Patrick Swayze mini-series).
I am sure similar stories are part of many civil war traditions in many countries, but one of the more amazing comes from China in the 20th century. And it involved sisters, not brothers.
Soong Ching-Ling was one of three sisters born in the Shanghai area in the late 19th century and sent by their father to America for school. She would marry her father's friend Sun Yat-Sen (one of several wives -- Sun was only Westernized so far). When Sun died, the left-right coalition he held together among the Chinese revolutionary forces disintegrated, with Soong Ching-Ling ending on the communist side. She eventually rose to be vice-president of the PRC.
Her sister Soong Mei-Ling would marry Sun Yat-Sen's protege Chiang Kai-Shek, who was to lead China in the 30's and early 40's and eventually dual unsuccessfully with the communists after the war for control of China. He would then rule the Chinese nationalist forces in Taiwan for most of the rest of his life.
Postscript: I see there is a Hong Kong movie with a pretty nice cast on the sisters, might have to watch it.
