Eileen Chang
Encyclopedia
Eileen Chang (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
".
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.
(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
. 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
.
. 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.
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.
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.
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:
, which was her first novel written entirely in English. 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. 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.
(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.
While in MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire
, Chang met and became involved with the American screenwriter
Ferdinand Reyher, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. 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. After the wedding, they stayed in New York City until 1956, when the couple moved back to New Hampshire. After suffering a series of stroke
s, Reyher eventually became paralyzed before his death on October 8, 1967.
. 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.
The following are the scripts that Eileen Chang wrote as a screenwriter:
The following are films adapted from Eileen Chang's novels:
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. Her most famous works include Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution is an 2007 Chinese espionage thriller film directed by Ang Lee, based on the novella of the same name published in 1950 by Chinese author Eileen Chang. The story is mostly set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when it was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army and ruled by...
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
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
and occupied Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
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
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Yuan Qiongqiong
Yuan Qiongqiong
Yuan Ch'iung-ch'iung is a Taiwanese writer. Yuan wrote poetry, fiction, essays, screenplays and television scripts during the Boudoir literature period for women...
drew inspiration from Eileen Chang. Poet and University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
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
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
".
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
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
at age 74.
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 PeilunZhang Peilun
Zhang Peilun was an unsuccessful Chinese naval commander during the Sino-French War .-Early life:Zhang Peilun was born in Hangzhou on November 24, 1848. His father, Zhang Yintang , was a mid-level government official who died when Zhang Peilun was only a child, which left the family in genteel...
(張佩綸), was son-in-law to Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang or Li Hung-chang , Marquis Suyi of the First Class , GCVO, was a leading statesman of the late Qing Empire...
, an influential court official during the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, 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
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
. 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
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
, but in 1923, her mother left for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
after her father took in a concubine and later became addicted to opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
. Their marriage had been arranged, and despite having bound feet, her mother managed to ski in the Swiss Alps
Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
. 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
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
. 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
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
Education
Chang started school at age 4. Besides her native Chinese, Chang studied and professed a high ability in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. 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.
In 1939, Chang was to attend the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
on a full scholarship, but never did due to the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
. Instead, she studied English Literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
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
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
in December 1941 and Chang made the decision to return to China. Her original plan was to finish her bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
at Saint John's University
Saint John's University, Shanghai
St. John's University was an Anglican university located in Shanghai, China. Before the Chinese Civil War it was regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in Shanghai and China...
, but she chose to drop out after several weeks due to financial issues.
Early work
At the age of 10, Chang's mother renamed her Ailing, a transliterationTransliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
of Eileen, in preparation for her entrance into an English school. While in high school, Chang read Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber , composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and is generally acknowledged to be a pinnacle of...
, one of the Four Great Classical Novels
Four Great Classical Novels
The Four Great Classical Novels, or the Four Major Classical Novels of Chinese literature, are the four novels commonly regarded by scholars to be the greatest and most influential of pre-modern Chinese fiction. Dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties, they are well known to most Chinese readers...
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.
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:
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 SongThe Rice Sprout Song
The Rice Sprout Song is a 1955 novel by Eileen Chang, the first novel she wrote in English. Detailing the hardships a peasant family faces in China, Chang elegantly describes how the bonds of family and kinship weather the forces of a food shortage....
, which was her first novel written entirely in English. She then left for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1955, never to return to mainland China again. Chang became a US citizen in 1960 and briefly headed to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
for more opportunities, returning to the US in 1962.
In 1963, Chang finished her English semi-biographical novels, The Fall of the Pagoda
The Fall of the Pagoda
The Fall of the Pagoda is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Eileen Chang. Originally written in English in 1963, it was published posthumously by Hong Kong University Press on April 15, 2010. Zhao Pihui translated it into Chinese.-Language:...
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. In 1967, Chang held a short-term job at Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
and would later transfer to UC Berkeley in 1969 before leaving the university in 1972, when she relocated to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern 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
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
novel in the Wu dialect by Han Bangqing (韓邦慶). Among her papers retrieved from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, the manuscript for the translated English version was found after her death and published.
Marriages
Chang met her first husband Hu LanchengHu Lancheng
Hu Lancheng was a Chinese writer and editor. He was married to the novelist Eileen Chang from 1943 to 1947....
(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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Chang continued to remain loyal to Hu. Shortly thereafter, Hu chose to move to Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
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
Wenzhou
Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
, where he married Fan Xiumei (范秀美). Chang and Hu divorced in 1947.
While in MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire
MacDowell Colony
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
, Chang met and became involved with the American screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Ferdinand Reyher, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. During the time they were briefly apart in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(Chang in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Reyher in Saratoga
Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs, also known as simply Saratoga, is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word "Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native American name, ...
), 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
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
shortly thereafter. The couple married on August 14, 1956. After the wedding, they stayed in New York City until 1956, when the couple moved back to New Hampshire. After suffering a series of stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
s, 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 landlordLandlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
. That she was found days after her death testifies to her seclusion. Her death certificate
Death certificate
The phrase death certificate can describe either a document issued by a medical practitioner certifying the deceased state of a person or popularly to a document issued by a person such as a registrar of vital statistics that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death as later...
states that she died from cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
. According to Chang's will, she was cremated without any memorial services and her ashes were released into the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
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
EastSouthWestNorth
EastSouthWestNorth is an English-language China-focused blog written by Roland Soong ), a Hong Kong-based blogger. The blog combines English translations of Chinese articles, comments and recommended reading. It was started in 2003 when Roland Soong moved back to Hong Kong...
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, CautionLust, CautionLust, Caution is an 2007 Chinese espionage thriller film directed by Ang Lee, based on the novella of the same name published in 1950 by Chinese author Eileen Chang. The story is mostly set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when it was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army and ruled by...
(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 ChinaThe Rice Sprout SongThe Rice Sprout Song is a 1955 novel by Eileen Chang, the first novel she wrote in English. Detailing the hardships a peasant family faces in China, Chang elegantly describes how the bonds of family and kinship weather the forces of a food shortage....
(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 CityLove in a Fallen City (film)Love in a Fallen City is a 1984 Hong Kong film directed by Ann Hui. It was adapted from the novella of the same name by Eileen Chang, and produced by Shaw Brothers Studio. The movie stars Chow Yun-fat and Cora Miao as the romantic leads....
) - 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 SpringsEighteen Springs (film)Eighteen Springs is a 1997 romance drama film directed by Ann Hui, starring Jacklyn Wu, Leon Lai, Anita Mui, Huang Lei and Ge You. It is a China-Hong Kong co-production based on the novel of the same name by Eileen Chang....
) - Lust, Caution (2007) (色，戒)
Further reading
- Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Eileen Chang. Ed. Arthur SzeArthur SzeArthur Sze is a second-generation Chinese American poet.-Background:Sze was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of eight books of poetry...
. (Trinity University Press, 2010).
See also
- Chinese literatureChinese literatureChinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
- List of Chinese authors
- List of graduates of University of Hong Kong