Worlding Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing): Narratives of Frontiers and Crossings

Translation played a central role in the life of Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing, 1920-95). One of the most iconic figures in twentieth-century Chinese literature, Chang also wrote extensively in English throughout her career, which began in the early 1940s in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. She achieved fame quickly but fell into obscurity after the war ended in 1945. Chang stayed in Shanghai through the 1949 Communist revolution and in 1952 moved to Hong Kong, where she worked as a freelance translator and writer for the United States Information Service and wrote two anti-Communist novels in English and Chinese, The Rice-Sprout Song (1955) and Naked Earth (1956).

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Chang, Eileen (Zhang, Ailing) (1920–2005)

Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism ◽

10.4324/9781135000356-rem1462-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Shuang Shen

Keyword(s):

Short Stories ◽

Family History ◽

Chinese Diaspora ◽

Military Leaders ◽

Eileen Chang ◽

Zhang Ailing ◽

Vernacular Fiction ◽

The Family ◽

Imperial China

Eileen Chang was one of the most unique and distinguished voices in early twentieth century China. Focusing mostly on intricate family and romantic relations in the colonial and urban settings, her early works bridge the divide between tradition and modernity by infusing the Chinese vernacular fiction tradition with modern sensibilities. Her bilingual writings in English and Chinese present a fascinating case study for cross-cultural translation in the context of immigration and Chinese diaspora. Eileen Chang grew up in a distinguished family of prominent politicians and military leaders during the last dynasty of imperial China. Many myths and memories about her famous ancestors would find their way into Chang’s essays, short stories, and novels. But the part of the family history that most affected Chang was the discord between her parents due to the divergent paths they had chosen between tradition and modernity. Her mother, a prototypical New Woman, left China when Eileen was two years old, and sojourned in Europe for a number of years.

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On the Description of Cityscape in Novels Written by Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang)

BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ◽

10.54691/bcpssh.v14i.274 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

pp. 322-329

Author(s):

Qinyan Lv

Keyword(s):

Emotional Experience ◽

Eileen Chang ◽

Zhang Ailing ◽

Living Things ◽

Life Philosophy ◽

Urban Writing ◽

The City ◽

Urban Civilization

Zhang Ailing captures and describes various cityscapes with fierce and exquisite style. These “-scapes” not only exist as the carrier of urban civilization, but also demonstrate the looks of Shanghai’s people from all walks of life. The “-scapes” represented by apparels entail pessimistic life philosophy and connotate the emotional experience and fate of characters. Architectures, as time-markers, are shaped in the macro background of the era sensitively and organically. As for sounds, they can not only strengthen the daily space constructed by Zhang Ailing because of their inherent natural attributes, but also vividly depict the living things in the form of hearing. All kinds of “-scapes”, such as apparels, architectures, and sounds, whether fleeting or continuous, have been polished into an indispensable form in Zhang Ailing's urban writing. They are scattered all over the city and bear the unique literary significance organically and completely.

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El rol de la mujer china a principios del siglo XX en la novela Bansheng yuan de Zhang Ailing.

Revista Internacional de Culturas y Literaturas ◽

10.12795/ricl.2020.i23.09 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 125-145

Author(s):

Teresa Inés Tejeda Martín

Keyword(s):

Eileen Chang ◽

Zhang Ailing ◽

Siglo Xx

En este artículo reflexionaremos, a través de la lectura Bansheng yuan, la primera novela larga de Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang), sobre la situación de la mujer china en las primeras décadas del siglo XX. Con el análisis de los tres principales personajes femeninos nos centraremos en destacar dos aspectos que, a pesar de haber avanzado en la teoría, seguían lastrando la posición de la mujer en la práctica: la falta de independencia laboral y el matrimonio.

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