| Township： | 河北丰润 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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张爱玲Early life
Born in Shanghai, China, she was originally named Zhang Ying (张瑛). She was the first of two children born to Zhang Ziyan (張志沂) (1896-1953) and Huang Suqin (黃素瓊) (1893-1957). Her paternal grandfather, Zhang Peilun (張佩綸), was son-in-law to Li Hongzhang, an influential Qing court official, and her maternal grandfather, Huang Yisheng (黄翼升) was a prominent naval commander. Her childhood had also been shared with paternal grandmother Li Juyu (李菊耦) (1866-1916), and paternal aunt Zhang Maoyuan (張茂淵) (1898-1991).
The family first relocated to Tianjin in 1922 when Chang was two years old, 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 on 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 moved back to Shanghai in 1928. Her parents divorced in 1930, and she and her younger brother Zhang Zijing (张子静) (1921-1997) were raised by their father.
After a fight with her stepmother and father, she ran away from home to stay with her mother shortly after her eighteenth birthday.
Education
Chang started school at age four. Although she says her family was not religious, she learned to speak both Chinese and English and graduated from a Christian high school, Saint Maria Girls' School, 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 literature at the University of Hong Kong, where she met her life-long friend, Fatima Mohideen (炎樱). 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.
Career
Early work
In 1931, Chang was renamed Ailing, a transliteration of Eileen. 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 twelve.
In the spring of 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.
Other activities
In the spring of 1952, Chang migrated back to Hong Kong, where she worked as a translator for the United States Information Service for three years. She then left for the United States in the fall of 1955, never to return to Mainland China again.
Chang relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1972. In 1975, she completed the English translation of The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai (海上花列傳, literally Biographies of Shanghai Flowers, or Courtesans), a celebrated Qing novel in the Wu dialect by Han Bangqing (韓邦慶, 1856-1894). Among her papers at the University of Southern California, the manuscript for the translated English version was found after her death and published. Chang became increasingly reclusive in her later years.
Marriages
Chang met her first husband Hu Lancheng (胡兰成) in the winter of 1943. They were married the following year in a private ceremony. Fatima Mohideen was the sole attendee. While courting Chang, Hu was still married to his third wife. Despite being labelled a traitor for collaborating with the Japanese during the ongoing war at the time, Chang continued to remain loyal to Hu.
Shortly thereafter, Hu chose to move to Wuhan, China to work for a newspaper. While staying at a local hospital, he seduced a 17-year-old nurse, Zhou Xunde (周训德), who soon moved in with him. When Japan was defeated in 1945, Hu used another identity and hid in the neighboring Wenzhou, where he remarried to Fan Xiumei (范秀美). Chang and Hu divorced in 1947.
While in MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire, Chang met her second husband, the American screenwriter Ferdinand Reyher. The couple married on August 14, 1956. While 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.
After their marriage, they stayed in New York City until October 1956, before returning to New Hampshire. Chang became a U.S. citizen in July 1960, then went to Taiwan in October 1961 to look for more opportunities, leaving in March 1962. After suffering a series of strokes, Reyher eventually became paralyzed before his death on October 8, 1967. That same year, Chang held a short-term job at Radcliffe College and would later transfer to UC Berkeley in 1969 before leaving the university in 1972.
Death
Chang was found dead in her apartment on Rochester Avenue in Westwood, California on September 8, 1995, by her landlord. That she was found days after her death testifies to her seclusion. Her death certificate states that the immediate cause of her death was Cardiovascular Disease. Chang's life-long friend Fatima Mohideen died a few months earlier, in June 1995 in New York. According to Chang's will, Chang 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. After the couple's deaths in 1996, their daughter Elaine and son Roland inherited the Estate of Eileen Chang's works. Roland, who writes the influential EastSouthWestNorth blog in Hong Kong, has spoken about her works.
Chang's brother 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)