Madame Chiang Kai-shek died on Thursday in New York at age 106 after catching a cold on Wednesday.

Soong Mei-ling in 1997

She developed pneumonia symptoms "before going very peacefully" at home on Thursday night, said Chiang Fang Chih-yi, widow of Chiang Kai-shek's grandson Chiang Hsiao-yung, yesterday.

"The Madame fought a beautiful battle and has been received by heaven," she said at an emotional news conference in Taipei.

Chiang Kai-shek's widow spent much of the time in semi-seclusion in her Manhattan apartment.

In 1995, she made her last visit to Taiwan, where her husband - who briefly ruled China - had fled with his Nationalist army after losing a civil war in 1949.

Nationalist spokesman Alex Tsai announced Madame Chiang's demise at the party's headquarters in Taipei yesterday.

He described her as one "who bridged the turbulence of three centuries".

"As an old lady, she was marvellous, very articulate. She recognized people, so I was impressed," said Andrew Hsia, director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York.

Hsia, who met the former first lady twice in recent years, said: "We were told that she passed away very peacefully while she was resting."

Soong Mei-ling in the '40s

Madame Chiang, also known as Soong Mei-ling, was born on February 12, 1898, on China's southern island of Hainan and brought up in a Methodist family.

She studied in the United States between the ages of 10 and 19, graduating with honours from Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1917.

Her father, Charles Soong, was educated as a Christian missionary at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Soong worked closely with Dr Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Nationalist revolution that overthrew China's last emperor in 1911.

Madame Chiang met her husband, a disciple of Sun's, around 1920, and married him on December 1, 1927. She later converted him to Methodism.

She was also one of her husband's most prominent lobbyists in Washington. In one of her most famous US public appearances, she addressed the US Congress in 1943 in perfect English; and tried to convince American lawmakers that defeating Japan was more important than stopping Germany, and that US forces should concentrate more on battling the Japanese in China.

After her husband's death in 1975, Madame Chiang moved to the United States.

She never bore a child for Chiang and the dynasty's grip on Taiwan ended with the death in 1988 of his son from a previous marriage, Chiang Ching-kuo.

Madame Chiang is survived by the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Chiang Ching-kuo.

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