Editing Eileen Chang

{{Short description|Chinese-American writer and screenwriter (1920–1995)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Zhang (surname)|Chang]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Eileen Chang
| image            = Zhang Ailing 1954.jpg
| caption          = Chang in [[British Hong Kong]] in 1954
| pseudonym        = Liang Jing ({{lang|zh-hant|梁京}})<ref name="SUN1988">{{cite journal |last= Sun|first=Rui Zhen |date= 22 May 1988 |title= Eileen Chang's Brief Account of Life and Activities (張愛玲生平和創作活動簡記)|url= http://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFV&dbname=CJFD8589&filename=XWXS198802028&v=MjAyODRmYkt4RnRuTXJZOUhiSVI4ZVgxTHV4WVM3RGgxVDNxVHJXTTFGckNVUkxPZlpPWnJGeW5sVXI3QVBUclQ=|language= zh|journal= Xueshu Yuekan (學術月刊)|issue=2 |pages= 159–163|access-date= 24 March 2019}}</ref>
| birth_name       = Zhang Ying ({{lang|zh-hant|張煐}})
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1920|9|30}}
| birth_place      = [[Shanghai]], [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1995|9|8|1920|9|30}}
| death_place      = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
| occupation       = {{flatlist|
* Novelist
* essayist
* literature author
* playwright
* screenwriter
* short story writer
}}
| education        = [[St. Mary's Hall, Shanghai|St. Mary's Hall]]
| alma_mater       = [[University of Hong Kong]]<br />[[St. John's University, Shanghai|St. John's University]]
| genre            = [[Literary fiction]]
| period           = 1932–1995
| notableworks     = ''[[Lust, Caution (novella)|Lust, Caution]]''<br />''[[Love in a Fallen City (novella)|Love in a Fallen City]]''
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Hu Lancheng]]|1944|1947|reason=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Ferdinand Reyher]]|1956|October 8, 1967|end=died}}
}}
| relations        = {{Unbulleted list|[[Zhang Peilun]] (paternal grandfather)|[[Li Hongzhang]] (great-grandfather)}}
| module           = {{Infobox Chinese
|child=yes
|order=ts
|t={{linktext|張|愛|玲}}
|s={{linktext|张|爱|玲}}
|p=Zhāng Àilíng
|gr=Jang Ayling
|w=Chang<sup>1</sup> Ai<sup>4</sup>-ling<sup>2</sup>
|altname=Liang Jing
|c2=梁京
|p2=Liáng Jīng
|w2=Liang<sup>2</sup> Ching<sup>1</sup> 
}}
}}
'''Eileen Chang'''  ({{lang-zh|t=張愛玲|s=张爱玲|first=t|w=Chang1 Ai4-ling2|p=Zhāng Àilíng}}；September 30, 1920 – September 8, 1995), also known as '''Chang Ai-ling''' or '''Zhang Ailing''', or by her pen name '''Liang Jing''' (梁京), was a [[Chinese people|Chinese]]-born American essayist, novelist, and screenwriter.

Chang was born to an aristocratic lineage and educated bilingually in [[Shanghai]]. She gained literary prominence in Japanese-occupied Shanghai between 1943 and 1945. However, after the Communists defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War, she fled the country. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she was rediscovered by scholars such as [[C. T. Hsia]] and Shui Jing. Together with the re-examination of literary histories in the post-[[Mao era]] during the late 1970s and early 1980s, she rose again to literary prominence in [[Taiwan]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Mainland China]], and the Chinese diaspora communities.<ref name="PONG2009">Nicole Huang, "[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo00pong_0/page/193/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Ailing Chang, Eileen (Zhang Ailing) 1920–1995]." ''Encyclopedia of Modern China'', edited by David Pong, vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2009, pp. 193-195. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.</ref>

==Life==

===Childhood and youth===
Chang was born Zhang Ying ({{lang|zh-hant|張煐}}) in Shanghai, China on September 30, 1920. She was the first child of Zhang Zhiyi ({{lang|zh-hant|張志沂}}; 1896–1953) and Huang Suqiong ({{lang|zh-hant|黃素瓊}}; 1893–1957). Chang's maternal great-grandfather, Huang Yisheng ({{lang|zh-hant|黃翼升}}; 1818–1894), was a prominent [[naval]] [[commander]]. Chang's paternal grandfather, [[Zhang Peilun]] (1848–1903) married Li Ju'ou ({{lang|zh-hant|李菊耦}}; 1866–1916) and was son-in-law to [[Li Hongzhang]], an influential Qing court official. She was also raised by her paternal aunt Zhang Maoyuan ({{lang|zh-hant|張茂淵}}; 1898–1991).<ref name="SUN1988"/>

In 1922, when Chang was two years old, the family relocated to [[Tianjin]]. When she was three, her father introduced her to [[Tang poetry]]. Beginning in 1924, her father often brought back prostitutes or [[concubines]] and became heavily addicted to [[opium]], which led to fights between her parents. During this time, Chang's mother decided to travel with her aunt to study in France.<ref name="SUN1988"/> In 1927,  after Chang's father promised to end his drug usage and extramarital affairs, Chang and her mother came back and settled in Shanghai. Chang's parents eventually divorced in 1930; she and her younger brother Zhang Zijing ({{lang|zh-hant|張子靜}}; 1921–1997) were raised by their father.

At the age of 18, Chang contracted [[dysentery]]. Instead of seeking medical treatment, her father beat her and forced her to stay in her bedroom for six months. Chang eventually ran away to live with her mother and then stayed with her mother for nearly two years, until she went to university.<ref>{{cite book |title=Biographical dictionary of Chinese women, Volume 2 |editor-last1=Lee |editor-first1= Lily Xiao Hong|editor-last2=Stefanowska |editor-first2=A.D. |year= 2006|publisher=University of California Press|isbn= 0-520-24449-4|pages= 274|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC}}</ref>

===Education===
[[File:Edingburgh House.jpg|thumb|250px|The gate of Eddington House in Shanghai. Eileen Chang lived here in 1942. (Picture taken in June 2013)]] 
Chang started school at age 4. Chang had obtained excellent English skills besides her native [[Mandarin Chinese|Chinese]]. In 1937, she graduated from an all-female Christian boarding high school, [[St. Mary's Hall, Shanghai]], even though her family was not religious.<ref name="SUN1988"/>

At an early age, under her mother's influence, Chang began painting, playing piano, and learning English.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jiang Xiangdong |author2=Li Aimin |date= 1 June 1999 |title=Discussion of the Relationship Between Eileen Chang's Family and Her Writings (论家世对张爱玲小说创作的影响)|url= http://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFQ&dbname=CJFD9899&filename=DALI199903026&v=MzE4OThNMUZyQ1VSTE9mWk9ackZpRGtWTHJPSVN6SFo3S3hGOWpNckk5SFlvUjhlWDFMdXhZUzdEaDFUM3FUclc=|language= zh|journal= Journal of Dalian University|volume= 20|issue= 3|pages= 108|access-date= 3 March 2019}}</ref>

In 1939, Chang was accepted to the [[University of London]] on a full scholarship, but was unable to attend due to [[World War II]]. Instead, she studied [[English Literature]] at the [[University of Hong Kong]], where she met her lifelong friend, Fatima Mohideen ({{lang|zh-hant|炎櫻}}; died 1995). When Chang was one semester short of earning her degree in December 1941, Hong Kong fell to the [[Empire of Japan]]. Chang's famous works were completed during the Japanese occupation.<ref name="CHAN">{{Cite journal|last=CHAN|first=Roy Bing|date=2017-01-01|title=Homeless in the world : war, narrative, and historical consciousness in Eileen Chang, György Lukács, and Lev Tolstoy|url=https://commons.ln.edu.hk/jmlc/vol14/iss1/1|journal=Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese 現代中文文學學報|volume=14|issue=1|issn=1026-5120}}</ref>

=== Marriages ===
In 1943, Chang met her first husband [[Hu Lancheng]] when she was 23 and he was 37. They 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. Although Hu was labelled a traitor for collaborating with the Japanese during [[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 ({{lang|zh-hant|周訓德}}), who soon moved in with him. When Japan was defeated in 1945, Hu used another identity and hid in the nearby city of [[Wenzhou]], where he married Fan Xiumei ({{lang|zh-hant|范秀美}}). Chang and Hu divorced in 1947.<ref name="PONG2009"/>

In 1956, while living in [[MacDowell Colony|MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire]], Chang met and became involved with the American [[screenwriter]] [[Ferdinand Reyher]], a [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] native nearly 30 years her senior.<ref>Stevens, Wallace, and Holly Stevens. “Letters to Ferdinand Reyher: Edited with an Afternote by Holly Stevens.” The Hudson Review, vol. 44, no. 3, 1991, pp. 381–409. ''JSTOR''.</ref> During the time they were briefly apart in New York (Chang in [[New York City]], Reyher in [[Saratoga Springs, New York|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 had an abortion shortly afterward. On August 14, 1956, the couple married in New York City.<ref>[http://www.focusfeatures.com/article/eileen_chang_and_lust__caution "Eileen Chang and Lust, Caution"]. ''Focus Features''. November 26, 2007. Retrieved April 26, 2011.</ref> After the wedding, 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]].<ref name="TNYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/13/obituaries/eileen-chang-74-chinese-writer-revered-outside-the-mainland.html|title=Eileen Chang, 74, Chinese Writer Revered Outside the Mainland|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 27, 2019|author=Robert McG. Thomas Jr.|date=September 13, 1995 }}</ref> According to her friends, Chang had died of natural causes several days before her building manager discovered her body, after becoming alarmed that she had not answered her telephone. Her [[death certificate]] states that she died from [[cardiovascular disease]].<ref name="TNYT"/> In accordance with Chang's will, she was [[Cremation|cremated]] without any memorial service, and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

After Chang's death, Stephen Soong (宋淇; 1919–1996) became the executor of her estate, succeeded by his son Roland Soong (宋以朗).<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|last=LEE|first=Christopher|date=2017-01-01|title=Translation in distraction : on Eileen Chang's "Chinese translation: a vehicle of cultural influence"|url=https://commons.ln.edu.hk/jmlc/vol14/iss1/3|journal=Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese 現代中文文學學報|volume=14|issue=1|issn=1026-5120}}</ref> In 1997, the Soong family donated some of Chang's manuscripts to the East Asian Library at the [[University of Southern California|University of Southern California]], including the English translation of "The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai" and the unfinished manuscript of the novel "The Young Marshall."<ref name="auto" /> In 2015, Roland Soong handed Eileen Chang's manuscripts to Hong Kong scholar Rosanna Fong (馮睎乾) for organization and research.

==Career==
===Shanghai===
At the age of 10, Chang's mother renamed her as Aìlíng, 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 influenced her work throughout her career. Chang 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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Love in a Fallen City (New York Review Books Classics) |last=Chang |first= Eileen|author2=Kingsbury, Karen |year= 2007|publisher=New York Review Books Classics|isbn= 978-1-59017-178-3|pages= 320|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=49gDP2Hwc6sC}}</ref>

Chang's writing was heavily influenced by the environment in which she lived. Shanghai and Hong Kong in the 1940s were the background of many of her earlier novels.<ref name="CHAN"/> She was known for her “aesthetic ambivalence” where the narrative style and language were reminiscent of the traditional “linked-chapter” novel while the setting was more in line with modern urban melodramas. Chang also sought to probe and examine the psychology of her characters.<ref name="docs.lib.purdue.edu">{{Cite journal |last=Qu |first=Lina |date=2020-02-09 |title=Writing, Rewriting, and Miswriting: Eileen Chang's Late Style Against the Grain |url=https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol21/iss6/7 |journal=CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture |volume=21 |issue=6 |doi=10.7771/1481-4374.3305 |issn=1481-4374 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 1943, Chang was introduced to the prominent editor [[Zhou Shoujuan]] and gave him a few pieces of her writing. With Zhou's support, Chang soon became the most popular new writer in Shanghai. Within the next two years, she wrote some of her most acclaimed works, including ''[[Love in a Fallen City (novella)|Love in a Fallen City]]'' and ''[[The Golden Cangue]]''. In her English translation of ''The Golden Cangue'', Chang simplified English expressions and sentence structures to make it easier for readers to understand.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eileen Chang's Translation of The Golden Cangue|url=https://translationjournal.net/journal/42chang.htm|access-date=2020-10-08|website=translationjournal.net}}</ref>

Several short stories and novellas were collected in ''Romances'' (''Chuan Qi'', {{lang|zh-hant|[[:zh:傳奇|傳奇]]}}) (1944). It instantly became a bestseller in Shanghai, boosting Chang's reputation and fame among readers and also the Chinese literary circle.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Wang Weiping |author2=Ma Lin |date= 1997|title= Eileen Chang Fifty years of Research (张爱玲研究五十年述评)|url= http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTOTAL-XSYK199711015.htm|language= zh|journal= Xueshu Yuekan (学术月刊)|issue= 11|pages= 88|access-date= 3 March 2019|archive-date= May 30, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190530024825/http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTOTAL-XSYK199711015.htm|url-status= dead}}</ref>

A collection of her essays appeared as ''Written on Water'' (''Líu Yán'' {{lang|zh-hant|[[:zh:流言|流言]]}}) in 1945.<ref name="HUANG2005">Nicole Huang, "Introduction," in Eileen Chang, ''Written on Water'', translated by Andrew F. Jones (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), ix-xvi.</ref> Her literary maturity was said to be far beyond her age. As described by Nicole Huang in the introduction to ''Written on Water'', "The essay form became a means for Eileen Chang constantly to redefine the boundaries between life and work, the domestic and the historic, and meticulously to weave a rich private life together with the concerns of a public intellectual."<ref name="HUANG2005" /> In 20th century China, Chang experimented with new literary language. In her essay entitled "writing of one's own," Chang retrospectively remarks on her use of a new fictional language in her novella ''Lianhuantao'' (''Chained Links'').<ref name="HUANG2005" />

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

{{blockquote|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!<ref>Zhang, Ailing, and Translated by Karen Kingsbury (2007). “Preface to the Second Printing of Romances” in ''Love in a Fallen City''. New York Review Books, New York, p.14.</ref>}}

===Hong Kong===
<!-- this section is the target of [[The Book of Change (Chang)]] -->

In 1945, Chang's reputation waned due to postwar cultural and political turmoil. It worsened after the defeat of the [[Nationalist government]] by the Communists in the [[Chinese Civil War]]. Chang left [[mainland China]] for [[Hong Kong]] in 1952, realizing her writing career in [[Shanghai]] was over.<ref name="HUANG2005"/> In [[Hong Kong]], she worked for the [[United States Information Service|United States Information Service (USIS)]], which promoted United States interests overseas.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=DeMare |first=Brian James |url= |title=Land wars : the story of China's agrarian revolution |date=2019 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5036-0849-8 |location=Stanford, California |pages=29 |oclc=1048940018}}</ref> During this time, she wrote two anti-communist works, ''[[The Rice Sprout Song]]'' (''Yang Ge'', {{lang|zh-hans|[[:zh:秧歌|秧歌]]}}) and ''Naked Earth'' (''Chidi zhi lian,'' 赤地之戀, sometimes known in English as ''Love in Redland''),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-05-04 |title=High Style and Desperate Love: On the Life and Work of Eileen Chang |url=https://themillions.com/2015/05/high-style-and-desperate-love-on-the-life-and-work-of-eileen-chang.html |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=The Millions |language=en-US}}</ref> both of which she later translated into Chinese and published in Taiwan.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goldblatt|first=Howard|date=1999|title=Review of The Rice-Sprout Song; The Rouge of the North, Eileen Chang|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/655784|journal=The China Quarterly|issue=159|pages=760–761|doi=10.1017/S0305741000003659|jstor=655784|issn=0305-7410|url-access=subscription}}</ref> ''The Rice Sprout Song'' was Chang's first novel written entirely in English.<ref name="PONG2009"/>

Chang wrote ''Naked Earth'' at the direct request of the USIS and used a plot outline supplied by USIS agents.<ref name=":2" /> According to academic Brian DeMare, the book is a consequence of the anti-Communist paranoia of the United States Cold War mentality and lacks the poetry and nuance of Chang's other works.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DeMare |first=Brian James |url= |title=Land wars : the story of China's agrarian revolution |date=2019 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5036-0849-8 |location=Stanford, California |pages=29–30 |oclc=1048940018}}</ref>

She also translated a variety of English works into Chinese, most notably ''[[The Old Man and the Sea]]'' by [[Ernest Hemingway]] and "[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]" by [[Washington Irving]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Xia |first=Chih-tsing |title=The Relationship Between Eileen Chang and Hu Lancheng (张爱玲与胡兰成的前世今生) |date=2007 |publisher=Shi Fan University |isbn=9787561332702 |location=ShanXi |page=197}}</ref> Chang's translation of ''The Old Man and the Sea'' was seen as Cold War propaganda for the USIS and is argued to have directly influenced her writing and translating of ''The Rice Sprout Song''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bo|first=L. Maria|date=2019-09-01|title=Freedom Over Seas: Eileen Chang, Ernest Hemingway, and the Translation of Truth in the Cold War|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/comparative-literature/article/71/3/252/139731/Freedom-Over-Seas-Eileen-Chang-Ernest-Hemingway|journal=Comparative Literature|language=en|volume=71|issue=3|pages=252–271|doi=10.1215/00104124-7546276|s2cid=202375261|issn=0010-4124|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===United States===
In 1955, Chang moved to America, struggling to become an English writer. Her work was rejected by publishers many times.<ref name="auto"/> Chang's move from Hong Kong to the U.S. marked an important turning point in her literary career.<ref name="docs.lib.purdue.edu" />

In the 1960s, Chang was constantly searching for new job opportunities, particularly ones that involved translating or writing screenplays. Chang once tried to adapt a screenplay for Hollywood with Chinese elements, but was unsuccessful because the agent thought the role had too much content and psychological changes.<ref name="auto"/> Chang became an [[American citizen]] in 1960 and headed to [[Taiwan]] for more opportunities, returning to the United States in 1962.

Betrayal is an overarching theme in Chang's later works, notably in her English essay "A Return to the Frontier" (1963) and one of her last novels ''Little Reunions'' (2009, published posthumously). Compared to her previous works, there are many more tragedies and betrayals in her writings later in her life.<ref name="u.osu.edu">{{Cite web |date=2014-09-23 |title=Ends of Betrayal: Diaspora and Historical Representation in the Late Works of Zhang Ailing |url=https://u.osu.edu/mclc/journal/abstracts/shenshuang/ |access-date=2020-11-19 |website=MCLC Resource Center |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, when she resided in San Francisco, Chang started writing the English novel ''The Young Marshal'' based on the love story between the Chinese general [[Zhang Xueliang]] and his wife, Zhao Yidi, with an aim to break into the American literary world. However, due to the multitude of Chinese names and complex historical background in the book, her editor gave a poor evaluation of the initial chapters, which greatly undermined Chang's confidence in the writing. With her interest in Zhang Xueliang waning, she abandoned the story. In 2014, Eileen Chang's literary executor, Roland Soong, managed to have the unfinished novel published, with a Chinese translation by Zheng Yuantao.

In 1963, Chang also wrote two novels based on her own life: ''[[The Fall of the Pagoda]]'' and ''The Book of Change''.<ref name="docs.lib.purdue.edu" /> 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.<ref name="docs.lib.purdue.edu" /><ref>[http://beijingtoday.com.cn/2010/04/fall-pagoda-records-eileen-changs-childhood/ "Fall of the Pagoda Records Eileen Chang's Childhood"]. ''Beijing Today''. April 30, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://jmsc.hku.hk/2010/08/book-launch-eileen-changs-book-of-change/ "Sept 3: Book Launch&nbsp;– Eileen Chang's The Book of Change"]. August 27, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90873/6954246.html "Eileen Chang's first English autobiographical novel published"]. ''People's Daily''. Retrieved December 19, 2010.</ref>

In 1966, Chang had a writing residency at [[Miami University]] in [[Oxford, Ohio]].<ref name="auto" /> In 1967, Chang held a short-term job at [[Radcliffe College]]. In 1969, upon the invitation of Shih-Hsiang Chen, a professor of Oriental Languages at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], Chang became a senior researcher at the Center for Chinese Studies of Berkeley.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis|last=Hoyan|first=Carole H. F.|title=The life and works of Zhang Ailing : a critical study|date=1996|publisher=University of British Columbia|url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0087802}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://epaper.anhuinews.com/html/jhsb/20140829/article_3154065.shtml|title=The Dispute Between Eileen Chang and Chen Shizhen (张爱玲与陈世骧的争执)|website=epaper.anhuinews.com|access-date=2018-03-31|archive-date=May 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510112522/http://epaper.anhuinews.com/html/jhsb/20140829/article_3154065.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her research topics included Chinese Communist terminology and the novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''.<ref name=":0" /> In 1971, the year Chen died, Chang left her post at Berkeley.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb6h4nb3q7&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00007&toc.depth=1&toc.id=|title=University of California: In Memoriam, 1974|website=texts.cdlib.org|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref> In 1972, Chang relocated to [[Los Angeles]]. In 1975, she completed the English translation of ''[[The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai]]'', a late [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] novel written in [[Wu Chinese]] by [[Han Bangqing]]. The manuscript for the translation was found among her papers at the [[University of Southern California]] and published posthumously in 2005.

In 1978, ''Crown Magazine'' published Chang's novellas ''[[Lust, Caution (novella)|Lust, Caution]]'' and ''Fu Hua Lang Rui'', as well as her short story  "Xiang Jian Huan".<ref>{{cite book |last= Xiao |first= Song Xi Yue|date= 2016|title= Eileen Chang's Life in the United States of America (张爱玲在美国的日子)|location= Beijing|publisher= Zhongguo Hua qiao chu ban she|page= 203 |isbn= 9787511359384}}</ref>

In 1990, Chang began writing an essay "Table of Love and Hate" (愛憎表), a reflection of her thoughts during her school days. The essay was published posthumously in the July 2016 issue (Issue 155) of Taiwan's Ink magazine and in the autumn-winter issue of China's Harvest magazine.

==Influence==
Chang was a realist and modernist writer.<ref name="docs.lib.purdue.edu" /> Her most important contribution was her construction of a unique wartime narrative, one that deviated from the grand accounts of national salvation and revolution. She sought to recount the seemingly irrelevant details and experiences of daily life of ordinary men and women in periods of social change and violence. Chang was also known for her view of modern history, displaying colours, lines, and moods in her writing and juxtaposition of historical reality with the domain of domesticity.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Pong|editor-first= David|last=Huang|first=Nicole|chapter=Eileen Chang |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo00pong_0/page/193/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Ailing|title=Encyclopedia of modern China |date= 2009|page=193|publisher= Charles Scribner's Sons|isbn=978-0-684-31571-3 |oclc=432428521}}</ref>

During the 1970s, Chang's legacy had such a significant impact on many creative writers in Taiwan that several generations of “Chang School writers” (張派作家) emerged,<ref name="Zheng2009">Su, Weizheng 蘇偉貞 (2006). ''Copying: On the Generations of Taiwanese Chang School Creative Writers 描紅：臺灣張派作家世代論'' Taipei: Sanmin shuju.</ref> notably [[Chu T’ien-wen]], [[Chu T’ien-hsin]], {{ill|Lin Yao-de|zh|林燿德}}, and [[Yuan Chiung-chiung]].<ref name="WANG2009">Wang, David Der-wei (2016). ''Methods to Imagine China. History· Fictional Writing· Narration (想象中国的方法 历史·小说·叙事).''Tianjin: Baihua Wenyi chu ban she. p. 248-251.</ref>

With collective efforts to unearth the literary histories of the pre-revolutionary days in the post-Mao era, a renewed Eileen Chang “fever” swept through the streets of mainland China. The name Eileen Chang became synonymous with the glories of a bygone era. As with Taiwan in the 1970s, a group of young women authors who were clearly inspired by Chang rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name="PONG2009"/> Other notable [[Mainland China]] authors influenced by Chang include [[Wang Anyi]], [[Su Tong]], and [[Ye Zhaoyan]].<ref name="WANG2009"/>

Chang has been listed as one of the four women literary geniuses in Shanghai during the Republic of China era, alongside [[Su Qing (writer)|Su Qing]], Guan Lu, and Pan Liudai. Chang has also been listed as one of the four women literary geniuses during the Republic of China era, along with [[Lü Bicheng]], [[Xiao Hong]] and [[Shi Pingmei]].<ref>Lin Shan, Lv Bicheng, ''A Woman Genius'', Beijing: Jilin Publishing Group Ltd., 2012.</ref> [[Dominic Cheung]], a poet and professor of East Asian languages at the [[University of Southern California]], said that had it not been for the Chinese civil war, Chang would have been a recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]].<ref name="TNYT" />

==In popular culture==
Eileen Chang's works are often adapted for screens. The best known is probably Ang Lee's film ''[[Lust, Caution]]'' (2007), based on her novella of the same name, starring [[Tony Leung Chiu-wai]] and [[Tang Wei]]. The film won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival and Golden Horse Award for best film in 2007. Other film adaptations include ''[[Love in a Fallen City (film)|Love in a Fallen City]]'' (1984) and ''[[Love After Love (2020 film)|Love After Love]]'' (2020), the latter based on Chang's ''Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier''; both films were directed by [[Ann Hui]]. Chang's ''Love in a Fallen City'' was also adapted into stage performances by the [[Hong Kong Repertory Theatre#:~:text=Hong Kong Repertory Theatre (Chinese,Chinese and international stage works.|Hong Kong Repertory Theatre]] in 1987, 2002, and 2005. In 2006, the theatre took the Cantonese performance to New York, Shanghai, and Toronto.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kam |first=Louie |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/897197722 |title=Eileen Chang : romancing languages, cultures and genres |date=2012 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=978-988-8083-72-5 |oclc=897197722}}</ref>

A 20-episode TV series, ''[[The Legend of Eileen Chang]]'', written by [[Wang Hui-ling]] and starring [[Rene Liu]], aired in Taiwan in 2004.

Malaysian singer [[Victor Wong (singer)|Victor Wong]] wrote a song titled "Eileen Chang" ("Zhang Ailing") in 2005.

Taiwanese writer [[Luo Yijun]] includes quotations and themes from Chang's writings and life in his novel ''Daughter''.<ref>The novel ''Daughter'' is featured as a chapter in the collection: {{Citation |last=Yijun |first=Luo |title=The Reincarnated Giant: An Anthology of Twenty-First-Century Chinese Science Fiction |date=September 2018 |editor1=Mingwei Song |chapter=Science Fiction |chapter-url=http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-reincarnated-giant/9780231180238 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9780231180238 |author-link=Luo Yijun |editor2=Theodore Huters}}</ref>

In 2020 on the occasion of the centennial celebration of Chang's birth, an online exhibition ''Eileen Chang at the University of Hong Kong'' was presented on the website for the [[University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong]]. The exhibition pieced together a narrative that highlights the early stages of Chang's literary career.<ref>{{Citation |title=Eileen Chang at the University of Hong Kong: An Online Presentation of Images and Documents from the Archives |date=2020-09-28 |url=https://www.virtual.umag.hku.hk/eileenchang100 |publisher=[[University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong]]}}. Exhibition curated by Nicole Huang {{lang|zh-hans|黃心村}}, Florian Knothe and Kenneth Shing-Kwan Chan {{lang|zh-hans|陳承焜}}.</ref>

== Bibliography ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! colspan="2" | Chinese title
! English title
! Notes
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[1943 in literature|1943]] || {{lang|zh-hant|沉香屑·第一爐香}} || ''Chenxiang Xie: Di-Yi Lu Xiang'' || ''Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier'' || Novella
|-
| {{lang|zh-hans|傾城之戀}} || ''Qing Cheng Zhi Lian'' || ''[[Love in a Fallen City (novella)|Love in a Fallen City]]'' || Novella
|-
| {{lang|zh-hans|金鎖記}} || ''Jin Suo Ji'' || ''[[The Golden Cangue]]'' || Novella; self-translated into English in 1981
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[1944 in literature|1944]] || {{lang|zh-hant|連環套}} || ''Lian Huan Tao'' || ''Chained Links'' || Novella
|-
| {{lang|zh-hans|红玫瑰与白玫瑰}} || ''Hong Meigui Yu Bai Meigui'' || ''[[Red Rose, White Rose (novella)|Red Rose, White Rose]]'' || Novella
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[1945 in literature|1945]] || {{lang|zh-hant|創世紀}} || ''Chuang Shi Ji'' || ''Genesis'' || Novella
|-
| {{lang|zh-hant|流言}} || ''Liu Yan'' || ''Written on Water'' || Essay collection
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1947 in literature|1947]] || {{lang|zh-hant|多少恨}} || ''Duo Shao Hen'' || ''So Much Regret'' || Novella
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1948 in literature|1948]] || {{lang|zh-hant|半生緣}} || ''Ban Sheng Yuan'' || ''[[Half a Lifelong Romance]]'' || Novel; originally serialized as {{lang|zh-hant|十八春}} (''Eighteen Springs'')
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1951 in literature|1951]] || {{lang|zh-hant|小艾}} || ''Xiao'ai'' || ''Xiao'ai'' || Novella; published under pseudonym Liang Jing
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1954 in literature|1954]] || {{lang|zh-hant|赤地之戀}} || ''Chidi Zhi Lian'' || ''Naked Earth'' || Novel; self-translated into English in 1956
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1955 in literature|1955]] || {{lang|zh-hant|秧歌}} || ''Yangge'' || ''[[The Rice Sprout Song]]'' || Novel; written in English and self-translated into Chinese
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1967 in literature|1967]] || {{lang|zh-hant|怨女}} || ''Yuan Nu'' || ''The Rouge of the North'' || Novel; written in English
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1978 in literature|1978]] || {{lang|zh-hant|浮花浪蕊}} || ''Fu Hua Lang Rui'' || ''Flowers Adrift, Blossoms Afloat'' || Novella
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[1979 in literature|1979]] || {{lang|zh-hans|色，戒}} || ''Se, Jie'' || ''[[Lust, Caution (novella)|Lust, Caution]]'' || Novella
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[2004 in literature|2004]] || {{lang|zh-hant|同学少年都不贱}} || ''Tongxue Shaonian Dou Bu Jian'' || ''Classmates Then All Successful Now'' || Novella; published posthumously
|-
| rowspan="1" | [[2009 in literature|2009]] || {{lang|zh-hans|小團圓}} || ''Xiao Tuan Yuan'' || ''Little Reunions'' || Novel; completed in 1979 and published posthumously
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[2010 in literature|2010]] || {{lang|zh-hant|雷峰塔}} || ''Lei Feng Ta'' || ''[[The Fall of the Pagoda]]'' || Novel; written in English; completed in 1963 and published posthumously
|-
| {{lang|zh-hant|易经}} || ''Yi Jing'' || ''The Book of Change'' || Novel; written in English; completed in 1963 and published posthumously
|}

==Films==
The following scripts were penned by Chang:

* ''[[Bu Liao Qing (1947 film)|Bu Liao Qing]]'' (1947) ({{lang|zh-hant|不了情}}, ''Unending Love'', modified from novel {{lang|zh-hans|多少恨}}, published as movie script)
* ''Tai Tai Wan Sui'' (1947) ({{lang|zh-hant|太太萬歲}}, ''[[Long Live the Missus!]]'')
* ''[[Ai le zhongnian]]'' (1949) ({{lang|zh-hant|哀樂中年}}, ''The Sorrows and Joys of Middle Age'')
* ''[[Jin Suo Ji]]'' (1950) ({{lang|zh-hans|金鎖記}}, ''The Golden Cangue'')
* ''[[Qing Chang Ru Zhan Chang]]'' (1957) ({{lang|zh-hant|情場如戰場}}, ''The Battle of Love'', script written in 1956)
* ''Ren Cai Liang De'' (unknown) ({{lang|zh-hant|人財兩得}}, script written in 1956)
* ''Tao hua yun'' (1959) ({{lang|zh-hant|桃花運}}, ''[[The Wayward Husband]]'', script written in 1956)
* ''[[Liu yue xin niang]]'' (1960) ({{lang|zh-hant|六月新娘}}, ''The June Bride'')
* ''[[Wen rou xiang]]'' (1960) ({{lang|zh-hant|溫柔鄕}})
* ''[[Nan bei yi jia qin]]'' (1962) ({{lang|zh-hant|南北一家親}})
* ''[[Xiao er nu]]'' (1963) ({{lang|zh-hant|小兒女}}, ''Father Takes a Bride'')
* ''[[Nan Bei Xi Xiang Feng]]'' (1964) (南北喜相逢)
* ''[[Yi qu nan wang]]'' (1964) ({{lang|zh-hant|一曲難忘}}, a.k.a. {{lang|zh-hant|魂歸離恨天}})

The following are films adapted from Eileen Chang's novels:
* ''Qing Cheng Zhi Lian'' (1984) ({{lang|zh-hant|傾城之戀}}, ''[[Love in a Fallen City (film)|Love in a Fallen City]]'')
* ''Yuan Nu'' (1988) ({{lang|zh-hant|怨女}})
* ''[[Red Rose White Rose|Hong Meigui Yu Bai Meigui]]'' (1994) ({{lang|zh-hant|紅玫瑰與白玫瑰}}, ''The Red Rose and the White Rose'')
* ''Ban Sheng Yuan'' (1997) ({{lang|zh-hans|半生緣}}, ''[[Eighteen Springs (film)|Eighteen Springs]]'')
* ''[[Lust, Caution]]'' (2007) ({{lang|zh-hans|色，戒}})
* ''[[Love After Love (2020 film)|Love After Love]]'' (2020) (第一爐香)

==See also==
*[[Chinese literature]]
*[[Women writers in Chinese literature]]
*[[List of Chinese authors]]
*[[List of graduates of University of Hong Kong]]
*[[Su Qing (writer)|Su Qing]] – a Republican-era writer
*[[Nellie Yu Roung Ling]] – first Chinese modern dancer, author and fashion designer

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Portrait ==
* [https://lib-linux2.hkbu.edu.hk/scadb/pgcw/purl.php?&did=pgcw036   Zhang Ailing. A Portrait by Kong Kai Ming] at Portrait Gallery of Chinese Writers (Hong Kong Baptist University Library).

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060502030557/http://www.tofu-magazine.net/newVersion/pages/home.htm Collected drawings of Eileen Chang, Shanghai 1936–1946 in mini-tofu#7 ]
* [http://chinesefilmclassics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/films/love-everlasting-%e4%b8%8d%e4%ba%86%e6%83%85-1947/ ''Love Everlasting'' (Buliao qing) (Sang Hu, dir., 1947)] with English subtitles - Film based on Eileen Chang's first screenplay
* [http://chinesefilmclassics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/course/module-8-long-live-the-missus-1947/ ''Long Live the Missus!'' (Taitai wansui) (Sang Hu, dir., 1947)] with English subtitles - Film based on Eileen Chang's second screenplay
* [https://u.osu.edu/mclc/online-series/long-live-the-missus/ Full translation of ''Long Live the Missus!'' (1947)] - MCLC Resource Center Publications
* [http://www.dianying.com/ft/person/ZhangAiling Eileen Chang in Chinese Movie Database (Chinese)]
* {{IMDb name|id=0151690|name=Eileen Chang}}

{{Eileen Chang}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chang, Eileen}}
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