Eileen Chang

Eileen Chang
Born	Zhang Ying (張瑛) September 30, 1920(1920-09-30) Shanghai, China
Died	September 8, 1995(1995-09-08) (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, United States
Pen name	Liang Jing (梁京) (rarely used)
Occupation	novelist, essayist, screenwriter
Alma mater	St. Mary's Hall University of Hong Kong Saint John's University, Shanghai
Period	1932–1995
Genres	Literary fiction
Literary movement	Mandarin and Butterfly (鴛鴦蝴蝶派) (disputed)
Spouse(s)	Hu Lancheng (1944–1947) Ferdinand Reyer (1956–1967)
Influences Cao Xueqin, Zhou Shoujuan, Zhang Henshui
Influenced Yuan Qiongqiong

Eileen Chang (simplified Chinese: 张爱玲; traditional Chinese: 張愛玲; pinyin: Zhāng Ailíng; Cantonese Yale: Zoeng Oiling) (September 30, 1920 – September 8, 1995) was a Chinese writer. Her most famous works include Lust, Caution and Love in a Fallen City.

She is noted for her fiction writings that deal with the tensions between men and women in love, and are considered by some scholars to be among the best Chinese literature of the period. Chang's portrayal of life in 1940s Shanghai and occupied Hong Kong is remarkable in its focus on everyday life and the absence of the political subtext which characterised many other writers of the period. Taiwanese author Yuan Qiongqiong drew inspiration from Eileen Chang. Poet and University of Southern California professor Dominic Cheung commented "had it not been for the political division between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese, she would have almost certainly won a Nobel Prize".^[1]

Chang's enormous popularity and famed image were in distinct contrast to her personal life, which was marred by disappointment, tragedy, increasing reclusiveness, and ultimately her sudden death from cardiovascular disease at age 74.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Chang was born in Shanghai, China. Her birth name was Zhang Ying (張瑛). She was the daughter of Zhang Zhiyin (張志沂) (1896–1953) and Huang Suqin (黃素瓊) (1893–1957). Chang's paternal grandfather, Zhang Peilun (張佩綸), was son-in-law to Li Hongzhang, an influential court official during the Qing Dynasty, who married Chang's paternal grandmother, Li Juyu (李菊耦) (1866–1916). Her maternal grandfather, Huang Yisheng (黄翼升), was a prominent naval commander. Her childhood had also been shared with paternal aunt Zhang Maoyuan (張茂淵) (1898–1991).

In 1922, when Chang was two years old, the family relocated to Tianjin, but in 1923, her mother left for the United Kingdom after her father took in a concubine and later became addicted to opium. Their marriage had been arranged, and despite having bound feet, her mother managed to ski in the Swiss Alps.^[2] She returned in 1927, as her husband had promised to end the turmoil with drug usage and his personal affairs, and the family settled back to Shanghai in 1928. Her parents divorced in 1930, and she and her younger brother Zhang Zijing (張子静) (1921–1997) were raised by their father.

Upon graduation from high school, Chang had a fight with her stepmother and father. Eventually, she contracted dysentery. Instead of receiving treatment, her father beat her and forced her to stay in her bedroom for six months. Chang ran away to live with her mother shortly after her 18th birthday, where they remained in a new apartment for nearly two years, until she began to attend university and briefly lived in Hong Kong.^[3]

Education

Chang started school at age 4. Besides her native Chinese, Chang studied and professed a high ability in English. Although she says her family was not religious, she attended an all-female Christian high school, Saint Maria Girls' School, where she graduated in 1937.^[4]

In 1939, Chang was to attend the University of London on a full scholarship, but never did due to the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War. Instead, she studied English Literature at the University of Hong Kong, where she met her life-long friend, Fatima Mohideen (炎樱) (died 1995). When Chang was one semester short of earning her degree, Hong Kong fell to the Empire of Japan in December 1941 and Chang made the decision to return to China. Her original plan was to finish her bachelor's degree at Saint John's University, but she chose to drop out after several weeks due to financial issues.^[5]

Early work

At the age of 10, Chang's mother renamed her Ailing, a transliteration of Eileen, in preparation for her entrance into an English school. While in high school, Chang read Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, which would influence her work throughout her career. Chang already displayed great literary talent and her writings were published in the school magazine. The following year, she wrote her debut short novel at the age of 12.^[6]

In 1943, Chang was introduced to a famous editor, Shoujuan Zhou (周瘦鹃), and gave him a few pieces of her writing. With Zhou's backing, Chang soon became the most popular new writer in Shanghai. Within the next two years, she wrote some of her most acclaimed works, including Qing Cheng Zhi Lian (倾城之恋) and Jin Suo Ji (金锁记). Her literary maturity was said to be beyond her age.

In the early days of her career, Chang was famously associated with this comment:

To be famous, I must hurry. If it comes too late, it will not bring me so much happiness ... Hurry, hurry, or it will be too late, too late!^[7]

Other activities

Chang migrated back to Hong Kong in 1952, where she worked as a translator for the United States Information Service for three years. While in Hong Kong, she wrote The Rice Sprout Song, which was her first novel written entirely in English.^[8] She then left for the United States in 1955, never to return to mainland China again. Chang became a US citizen in 1960 and briefly headed to Taiwan for more opportunities, returning to the US in 1962.

In 1963, Chang finished her English semi-biographical novels, The Fall of the Pagoda and The Book of Changes. Both were believed to be her attempts to offer an alternative writing style to mainstream America; she did not succeed. The full-length novels were not published until 2010, 15 years after her passing.^[9][10][11] In 1967, Chang held a short-term job at Radcliffe College and would later transfer to UC Berkeley in 1969 before leaving the university in 1972, when she relocated to Los Angeles, California. In 1975, she completed the English translation of The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai (海上花列傳, literally Biographies of Flowers Beside the Sea), a celebrated Qing novel in the Wu dialect by Han Bangqing (韓邦慶). Among her papers retrieved from the University of Southern California, the manuscript for the translated English version was found after her death and published.

Marriages

Chang met her first husband Hu Lancheng (胡兰成) in 1943, when she was 23 and he was 37. They were married the following year in a private ceremony. Fatima Mohideen was the sole attendee. In the few months that he courted Chang, Hu was still married to his third wife. Despite Hu being labelled a traitor for collaborating with the Japanese during the ongoing World War II, Chang continued to remain loyal to Hu. Shortly thereafter, Hu chose to move to Wuhan to work for a newspaper. While staying at a local hospital, he seduced a 17-year-old nurse, Zhou Xunde (周訓德), who soon moved in with him. When Japan was defeated in 1945, Hu used another identity and hid in the neighboring Wenzhou, where he married Fan Xiumei (范秀美). Chang and Hu divorced in 1947.^[12]

While in MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire, Chang met and became involved with the American screenwriter Ferdinand Reyher, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[13] During the time they were briefly apart in New York (Chang in New York City, Reyher in Saratoga), Chang wrote to Reyher that she was pregnant with his child. Reyher wrote back to propose. Although Chang did not receive the letter, she telephoned the following morning to inform Reyher she was arriving in Saratoga. Reyher had a chance to propose to her in person, but insisted that he did not want the child. Chang suffered a miscarriage shortly thereafter. The couple married on August 14, 1956.^[14][15] After the wedding, they stayed in New York City until 1956, when the couple moved back to New Hampshire. After suffering a series of strokes, Reyher eventually became paralyzed before his death on October 8, 1967.

Death

On September 8, 1995, Chang was found dead in her apartment on Rochester Avenue in Westwood, Los Angeles by her landlord. That she was found days after her death testifies to her seclusion. Her death certificate states that she died from cardiovascular disease. According to Chang's will, she was cremated without any memorial services and her ashes were released into the Pacific Ocean.

She willed all her possessions to Stephen Soong (宋淇) and his wife Mae Fong Soong (鄺文美) in Hong Kong, but they later died. Their daughter Elaine and son Roland inherited the estate of Chang's works. Roland, who writes the influential EastSouthWestNorth blog in Hong Kong, has spoken about her works.

Chang's brother, Zijing, died in 1997. Neither he nor his sister had any children, and the family has no descendants.

Works in English translation

• Love in a Fallen City (published in October 2006 by New York Review Books) Translated by Karen Kingsbury and Eileen Chang. ISBN 1-59017-178-0
• "The Golden Cangue" (金锁记) is found in Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas, 1919-1949 (ed. Joseph S M Lau et al.) HC ISBN 0-231-04202-7 PB ISBN 0-231-04203-5
• Lust, Caution (色，戒) Translated by Julia Lovell. New York: Anchor Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-307-38744-8
• Naked Earth (tr. of 赤地之戀) Hong Kong: Union Press, 1956.
• The Rice Sprout Song: a Novel of Modern China (tr. of 秧歌 by the author) HC ISBN 0-520-21437-4, PB ISBN 0-520-21088-3
• The Rouge of the North (tr. of 怨女) HC ISBN 0-520-21438-2 PB 0520210875
• Traces of Love and Other Stories PB ISBN 962-7255-22-X
• The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai (Eileen Chang's tr. of Han Bangqing's novel) ISBN 0-231-12268-3
• Written on Water (tr. of 流言 by Andrew Jones) ISBN 0-231-13138-0
• Sealed Off (封锁)
• Jasmine Tea (茉莉片香)

Films

Chang wrote several film scripts. Some of her works have been filmed and shown on the silver screen as well.

The following are the scripts that Eileen Chang wrote as a screenwriter:

• Bu Liao Qing (1947) (不了情, modified from novel 多少恨, published as movie script)
• Tai Tai Wan Sui (1947) (太太万岁)
• Ai Le Zhong Nian (1949) (哀乐中年)
• Jin Suo Ji (1950) (金锁记, The Golden Cangue)
• Qing Chang Ru Zhan Chang (1957) (情场如战场, The Battle Of Love, script written in 1956)
• Ren Cai Liang De (unknown) (人财两得, script written in 1956)
• Tao hua yun (1959) (桃花运, The Wayward Husband, script written in 1956)
• Liu yue xin niang (1960) (六月新娘, The June Bride)
• Wen Rou Xiang (1960) (温柔乡)
• Nan Bei Yi Jia Qin (1962) (南北一家亲)
• Xiao er nu (1963) (小儿女, Father takes a Bride)
• Nan Bei Xi Xiang Feng (1964) (南北喜相逢)
• Yi qu nan wang (1964) (一曲难忘, a.k.a. 魂归离恨天)

The following are films adapted from Eileen Chang's novels:

• Qing Cheng Zhi Lian (1984) (倾城之恋, Love in a Fallen City)
• Yuan Nu (1988) (怨女)
• Hong Meigui Yu Bai Meigui (1994) (红玫瑰与白玫瑰, The Red Rose and the White Rose)
• Ban Sheng Yuan (1997) (半生缘, Eighteen Springs)
• Lust, Caution (2007) (色，戒)

Further reading

• Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Eileen Chang. Ed. Arthur Sze. (Trinity University Press, 2010).

See also

• Chinese literature
• List of Chinese authors
• List of graduates of University of Hong Kong

Notes

1. ^ "Eileen Chang, 74, Chinese Writer Revered Outside the Mainland". The New York Times. 13 September 1995. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEED71E3DF930A2575AC0A963958260 
2. ^ According to the introduction in the novella Lust, Caution.
3. ^ Wiles, Sue; Lee, Stefanowska, Ho (2006). Biographical dictionary of Chinese women, Volume 2. University of California Press. pp. 274. ISBN 0520244494. http://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC. 
4. ^ (Chinese) "张爱玲母校只剩“断壁残垣”居民要求保护(图)". xinmin.cn. April 24, 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
5. ^ "Eileen Chang’s biography". Shenzhen Daily. November 20, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
6. ^ Chang, Eileen; Kingsbury, Karen (2007). Love in a Fallen City (New York Review Books Classics). New York Review Books Classics. pp. 320. ISBN 1590171780. http://books.google.com/books?id=49gDP2Hwc6sC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
7. ^ "Lust, Caution". Penguin Classics. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
8. ^ Chang, Eileen. The Rice Sprout Song. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955
9. ^ "Fall of the Pagoda records Eileen Chang’s childhood". Beijing Today. April 30, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
10. ^ "Sept 3: Book Launch – Eileen Chang’s The Book of Change". August 27, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
11. ^ "Eileen Chang's first English autobiographical novel published". People's Daily. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
12. ^ "Eileen Chang's fractured legacy". Asia Times. April 29, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
13. ^ "JSTOR: The Hudson Review, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 381-409". September 1991. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
14. ^ "Eileen Chang and Lust, Caution". Focus Features. November 26, 2007. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
15. ^ "Eileen Chang". New York Review Books. Retrieved April 26, 2011.

External links

• Collected drawings of Eileen Chang, Shanghai 1936-1946 in mini-tofu#7
• Eileen Chang in Chinese Movie Database (Chinese)
• Eileen Chang at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Chang, Eileen
Alternative names	張愛玲 (Traditional Chinese); 张爱玲 (Simplified Chinese); Zhāng Àilíng (pinyin); Liang Jing; 梁京 (Chinese)
Short description	Chinese novelist, essayist, screenwriter
Date of birth	September 30, 1920
Place of birth	Shanghai, China
Date of death	September 8, 1995
Place of death	Los Angeles, California, United States