Zhang Ailing

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Zhang Ailing was born and raised in a situation of political and Marital unrest, on September 9th of 1920, in Shanghai. Born in a China that was attempting to place itself in the modern world, her society was in a state of change and development perfect for the rise of new and different authors. Perfect especially, for a female author to become popular. Her personal life matching the political era, she found herself changing setting often as in 1922 her family moved to Tianjin. Her family was important to the Chinese government, which allowed them to live a privileged lifestyle. Despite their financial stability, the marriage of Zhang’s parents was unstable, and her mother left for the United Kingdom in 1925. Her father then veered off course, first taking a concubine, and becoming addicted to opium (Cultural China). Her mother returned in 1928 and the family returned to Shanghai. This created a sense of stability but they divorced two years later. Her father remarried and raised her with his second wife. Her life at home was fraught with abuse and discomfort. Her father’s addiction prevented him from being a particularly supportive parent. When she was 18, she contracted dysentery, unwilling to take her to a doctor, Zhang’s father and stepmother locked her in her room for 6 months. After this time, she ran away to live with her mother. This life of terror and abuse may bear great relation to her future reclusiveness, and also to her personal rather than political focus in her writing. In my opinion her childhood had a huge effect on her future writings. Her youth was wrought with turmoil and distrust, as her father and stepmother were highly abusive, and her birth mother was often far from home. I really believe that this disillusionment as a child led to her future, first as a writer of such powerful and emotive stories, and second, as a person who eventually withdrew from society. As a child she learned to be alone perhaps as a coping mechanism, her personal intelligence and emotion led to her skill in writing and her desire to write.

Education

Zhang began school when she was 4 in a traditional Chinese school, but her mother wanted her to receive a western education, and when she turned 9, she began attending a western school. She had a particular love for language and literature and became fluent in English, in addition to her native Chinese. Zhang attended and graduated from a Christian High School but claimed her family was not religious. Perhaps a religious school was the most western to be found in their particular setting. Education was really important to Zhang, and in 1939, she planned to attend the University of London, on a Scholarship, but could not due to the war in China. Instead, she studied English Literature at the University of Hong Kong until the Japanese Invasion forced her back into mainland China (Encyclopedia Britannica). Eventually she attended St. John’s University, but had to drop out due to lack of funds, refusing to work any job except for writing. Despite the inconsistency of her educational situation, Zhang had a love of the written word. Her writing was hugely popular and influential in China, and remains popular to this day. The ways in which she approached nontraditional relationships in her writing were completely revolutionary. It is possible that her take on relationships came from the confused path of relationships she observed in her immediate family, and eventually in her own life. I also believe that her less political stance in writing was a refreshing turn for readers of her time. This must have led in some degree, to her popularity. Her western education may have also influenced her particular style of writing, allowing her to branch out into stories of love that crossed the lines of tradition.

Marriages

She met her first husband, Hu Lancheng , in 1943. He was married to his 3rd wife at the time, but they pursued a relationship and married a year later. No mention is given to what happened to his 3rd wife. Apparently unable to maintain a monogamous relationship, Hu was unfaithful, and they divorced in 1947, after only about 3 years of marriage. Zhang later met an American Screenwriter, Ferdinand Reyher, and in 1956 they were married. Before their marriage, Zhang became pregnant, and Reyher proposed but insisted that he did not want the baby. It seemed that although he loved Zhang and wanted to be with her in a permanent relationship, he was not interested in becoming a father. She eventually miscarried, and never had any children. The couple were married for many years, even as Reyher became ill, and eventually died in 1967. Her marital relationships perhaps only added to her disillusionment with the world, and contributed to her eventual reclusiveness. Her writings may also have been in some way a reflection of her own relationships. As she experienced love, first with a married man, and later with a foreigner, her eyes were opened to more of the facets that love could take. This experience may have greatly influenced her desire to explore nontraditional love stories in her writing. In contrast, perhaps her writing also inspired her to seek for love in more surprising and interesting places.

Literary Career

Zhang’s literary career was one of immense popularity. In contrast to many of her contemporaries, she did not take a political approach to her writing. She seemed more interested in exploring the intricacies of relationships, and particularly in portraying the workings of the human mind. Her experience with both her own relationships and the relationships of her parents greatly influenced this desire to understand men and women, and how they interact with one another. She wrote many popular books and short works, many of which have been translated into English and other languages. She also worked as a translator, translating many books from Chinese into English. Her writings truly portray an innovation that is unique to her style. I believe that her style, in which she portrays the inside of the female mind, and the workings of romantic love, stems from a life of learning what love is and is not. I believe that she was proud of her Chinese heritage while still frustrated with the traditions that seemed to bind her people. She sought for freedom, most especially the freedom to choose who you love. Works Love in a Fallen City "The Golden Cangue" Lust, Caution Naked Earth The Rice Sprout Song: a Novel of Modern China The Rouge of the North Traces of Love and Other Stories Written on Water Sealed Off Jasmine Tea

Later Life

After the death of her second husband, Zhang fell into reclusiveness. Disillusioned with the world, she began to withdraw, until she almost never came out into the world. When she died of heart failure in 1995 in Los Angeles, she was not discovered for several days. It seems that her difficulties with relationships as a child and an adult, led her to dislike society. That being said, she willed her estate to friends, who eventually left it to their own children. A reclusive life is not indicative of an unproductive state. I like to compare the lives of Zhang Ailing, and Emily Dickinson, both were reclusive to some degree, but both also produced works of genius. Sometimes, perhaps, a little seclusion is necessary in order produce works with meaning.

Works Cited

"Elieen Chang (Zhang Ailing) - A Legendary Female Writer." Cultural China. Cultural China, 2010. Web. 8 Oct 2012. "Zhang Ailing". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 08 Oct. 2012 Corinneb 13:21, 8 October 2012 (UTC)