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

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.

The concept of “love” in the early works of Zhang Ailing (张爱玲 1920–1995)

This article presents a study designed to analyse the concept of love in the early work of chinese writer Zhang Ailing. The research reveals conceptual binary oppositions which are formed arround the core of the concept of love that is: ai (爱), qing (情) and lian (恋). The oppositions are the following: absurdity — conciseness; frivolous / pretense — serious / sincerity; material — spiritual / sacred; isolation — openness; selfishness — generosity; cowardice — courage; overseas — traditional. This ambiguity of the concept is the key to understanding how early works of Zhang Ailing differs from the previous literature tradition, which understands love as а supreme good. The research shows the transformation of the concept of love in the early work of Zhang Ailing. The writer confronts the tradition, she tries to destroy the romantic-sentimental attitude to love that was formed in Chinese literature in the first decades of the twentieth century. Breaking with the conventional image of “love above all” (恋爱之上), Zhang Ailing begins to build up her own world of love. She starts from the denying of romantic love and attachment, and only then tries to fit love into the social structure, to turn ordinary love into a social value equal to success in work, financial well-being, etc.

On the image of Shanghai in Zhang Ailing's novels

<p>The urban image created by Zhang Ailing is impressive. Look at all her novels, almost all of them are based in Shanghai. Through her novels, readers can experience the traditional and modern interwoven urban culture, and understand the unique urban things, as well as ordinary and tragic figures in Shanghai. The image created by Zhang Ailing is not only the living place of the characters, but also the human nature of the city.</p>

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

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.