Chang Chong-Chen

Chang Chong-Chen
Publication information
Publisher	Casterman (Belgium)
First appearance	The Blue Lotus (1936)
Created by	Hergé
In-story information
Supporting character of	Tintin

Chang Chong-Chen (originally romanized as Tchang Tchong-Jen in French, 張仲仁 Zhāng Zhòngrén in Chinese characters) is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Although Chang and Tintin only know each other for a short time, they form a deep bond which drives them to tears when they separate or are re-united. Chang was based upon Zhang Chongren, a real friend of Hergé's.^[1]

The story which introduced him was to have a major effect on Hergé and Tintin, making it one of the most popular series of all time. His next appearance would also be in one of the most moving of Tintin's adventures.

Inspiration and influence

In 1934, Hergé was about to start work on a story which would take Tintin to China. So far, he had taken a very stereotypical and clichéd view of the countries that Tintin visited: a Russia of starving peasants and brutal commissars; a Congo of simple-minded, uneducated villagers; an America of gangsters, cowboys and Indians; and an India of fakirs and maharajas.

In the process of planning his story, Hergé was contacted by a Father Gosset, chaplain to the Chinese students at Louvain University, who suggested that he do some actual research into life in China as it really was. Hergé agreed and Gosset introduced him to Zhang Chongren, a student at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

The two men, both aged 27, got on well and Hergé decided to include his new friend in the story. Zhang supplied much of the Chinese writing that was to feature and told Hergé a lot about Chinese culture, history and drawing techniques. He also gave a detailed description of life in 1930s China, which included the occupation of eastern territories by the Japanese, British and Americans and other Western powers.

The result of their meetings was The Blue Lotus, a major landmark in the development of The Adventures of Tintin. From now on Hergé would research his subjects thoroughly. He also changed his attitude towards the relationship between native peoples and foreigners. He had previously taken a positive view of imperialism in Tintin in the Congo (published in 1930). Now, in The Blue Lotus (1934), he criticised the Japanese occupation of China and featured an event inspired by the Mukden incident. The Shanghai International Settlement, with its racist Western businessmen and corrupt police (which includes white and Sikh officers), was also shown in a bad light.

Meeting Tintin

Tintin meets Chang in the 1934 edition of The Blue Lotus:
"That's better, eh?... So, what's your name?... Mine's Tintin."
"I'm Chang... But... why did you rescue me?"
"!!?"

The fictional Chang first appeared in The Blue Lotus as a young orphan whom Tintin saved from drowning. The first thing he asked was why a white foreigner like Tintin would bother saving a non-white boy at all (Tintin was to cause similar queries when helping Zorrino in Prisoners of the Sun). He and Tintin then exchanged notes on the prejudice that Chinese and non-Chinese have for each other and laughed it away. In his description of Western prejudices, Tintin includes a Fu Manchu-like character. (In fact The Blue Lotus features a Japanese villain called Mitsuhirato.)

They now became friends and Chang led Tintin to Hukow where he was on the trail of a kidnapped doctor. There they stayed with a friend of Chang's late father. They later encountered Thomson and Thompson who had arrived dressed as figures out of a Chinese opera and were being followed with amusement by half the population.

The Thompsons had been sent to arrest Tintin and took him to the local police station in order to start extradition proceedings. However, they had lost a document written in Chinese which instructed the local police to give them assistance. Chang replaced the paper with another one which claimed that the Thompsons were "lunatics and this proves it". When he read the document the chief of police roared with laughter and had the Thompsons thrown out and Tintin released.

Chang also saved Tintin from a Japanese agent dressed as a photographer who had been sent to kill him.

Tintin took Chang with him back to Shanghai in order to settle his scores with his enemy Mitsuhirato. Tintin was staying at the headquarters of the Sons of the Dragon, a secret society that fought against the trafficking of opium. Chang moved in with them and joined in the battle of wits against a major gang of opium smugglers.

Chang played a crucial part in the capture of the leaders of the gang and saving Tintin and others from execution. The crooks included Tintin's arch-enemy Rastapopoulos. After that Chang was adopted by Tintin's ally Wang Chen-Yee.

Tintin and Snowy then left for Europe amid a tearful and emotional farewell to Chang and his new family.

Chang and the Yeti

Chang remained unmentioned in the stories until Tintin in Tibet, published almost 25 years later in 1958.

Much like Hergé and Zhang, Tintin and Chang do not appear to have kept in regular touch. As he was about to leave for Europe, Chang sent Tintin a letter to his old flat in Brussels, unaware, it seems, that Tintin had long ago moved to Marlinspike Hall to live with Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and Nestor, the long-suffering butler.

According to the letter sent to Tintin and an article in a newspaper, Chang appears to have moved to Hong Kong, which was then a British possession. It is not clear if Chang just happened to be there for a short while or if his adopted family had moved into the colony. The second hypothesis may be likely since, as the wealthy leader of a secret society with a luxurious house and servants, Wang Chen-Yee would not have fitted in too well with the People's Republic of China.

Chang was on his way to London in order to work in an antique shop owned by a brother of Wang's when his plane crashed over the mountains of Tibet. Chang survived the disaster while all his fellow passengers perished.

Chang struggled from the wreckage to a nearby cave where he came face-to-face with the yeti, the mythical creature said to live in the Himalayas. The yeti took care of Chang, providing him with food, but when rescue arrived he also took Chang, weak with fever, as far away as possible.

Tintin was convinced that Chang was not dead. He had seen in a dream that Chang was alive and calling for help. Against all logic he set off to find him, with the grudging help of Captain Haddock who, along with almost everyone else, believed Chang to be deceased.

Upon reaching the wreck of the aircraft high in the mountains, Tintin found the cave where Chang had taken refuge. He had carved his name on a rock in both Chinese and Western writing. He also saw Chang's scarf floating on a mountain peak where Chang had lost it.

Tintin and Haddock eventually tracked Chang and the yeti down to another cave. Chang was still suffering from fever, but he and Tintin enjoyed a tearful reunion. As they tried to leave the cave, the yeti returned with food and, seeing his companion being taken away from him, attacked Tintin. Fortunately the flash from a camera scared him away.

Although he had to leave him, Chang was very grateful to the yeti for keeping him alive and would describe him as "poor snowman", rather than "abominable". When Tintin wondered if he might one day be captured, Chang objected to this, feeling that the yeti should be looked upon as a human rather than a wild animal.

The yeti for his part howled in sadness as Chang left with Tintin and Haddock and the final panel of the story has him watching from a distance as his only friend leaves the area.

Chang later went to London from where he kept in touch, sending letters to Tintin and Haddock (see The Castafiore Emerald).

The real Chang is found

Zhang and Hergé in 1981

Zhang and Hergé in 1981. Behind them the cut-outs of Tintin and Chang (although dressed for The Blue Lotus) are saying the words used in their reunion in Tintin in Tibet: "I Knew I'd find you in the end !... This is wonderful !" "Tintin ! Oh, how often I've thought of you !"

Tintin in Tibet was perhaps Hergé's most deeply personal work. When he wrote it, he had not seen the real-life Zhang for several decades. Later, in 1981, the French media managed to find Zhang in China and arrange a trip to Europe for a reunion with Hergé. In 1985, Zhang received French citizenship and settled in Paris to teach, where he died in 1998.

See also

• List of The Adventures of Tintin characters

Further reading

• "Tintin conquers China". BBC News. 2001-05-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1346606.stm. 

References

1. ^ "Tintin at the top". Times (London). 2006-12-09. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article1088628.ece. Retrieved 2010-05-26.