1951年宋庆龄得知美籍日本朋友有吉幸治及一批革命者被捕，她将珍藏了几十年的母亲的结婚礼服托人送给有吉幸治的亲属，用以变卖营救。有吉幸治的夫人和儿子小有吉幸治一直保存这套礼服，直到1981年10月送还中国。

Learning in 1951 that her Japanese-born American friend Koji Ariyoshi and other revolutionaries had been arrested, through another friend she sent Ariyoshi’s family her mother’s wedding gown, which she had kept for years. Its sale, she suggested, might be a bit of financial help in Ariyoshi’s rescue. But Ariyoshi and his family cherished the gift and kept it carefully until October 1981, four months after Soong breathed her last, when it was returned to China.