Eileen Chang to
Shanghai is as
Charles Dickens to London and Victor Hugo to Paris. Now a book
details and maps the life of the complicated legendary female
writer who penned the city's living history.
Shanghai and Eileen Chang (or Zhang Ailing), the city and the
legendary writer -- the idea came to Chun Zi, whose real name is Li
Chun, a city radio presenter and writer, when she visited one of
Chang's old residences.
The idea became a book Right Here Shanghai: A Map of the
Life of Eileen Chang, recently released in an updated 166-page
second edition with new photos and information. It contains more
than 100 scenes of Shanghai and is a virtual map of Chang's life in
the city.
Born in Shanghai in 1920, Chang is a legendary figure in Chinese
literary history. She spent her youth in the city, began her
writing career in Shanghai, fell in love more than once in
Shanghai, and married twice. The reclusive Chang died alone in her
Los Angeles apartment in 1995.
Her novels were mainly based on her experiences in the city and
details were drawn from Shanghai life. Many are love stories, tense
love stories, set against the backdrop of China's War of Resistance
against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).
Most of her famous novels have been translated into English,
including Love in a Fallen City, The Golden
Cangue, Naked Earth, The Rice Sprout Song,
and Red Rose White Rose.
"Chang to Shanghai, is like Charles Dickens to London, Victor
Hugo and Charles Baudelaire to Paris, Franz Kafka to Prague and
James Joyce to Dublin," writes professor Chen Zishan of East China
Normal University in the preface.
Author Li says Chang wrote Shanghai's living history in the 20th
century.
Chang was a classic city woman who symbolized the city's
culture. Her novels have been described as "delicate," "classy,"
and "sophisticated."
An ardent fan of Chang's work, Li calls her research "a walk in
the city" where she visited the places Chang lived, studied and
visited.
"Chang is like a key to my understanding of the city. Through
these years of exploration, I got a deeper feeling for her literary
work. I also got to touch and feel the city," Li recalls.
Li was born, educated and is now working in Shanghai. She is
deeply connected with the city. "Some of my friends have moved out,
or just take the city as a transition, but for me wherever I go, I
cannot help coming back. Shanghai is my hometown."
She says she has never stopped following the footsteps of Chang
and had much to add to the first edition.
But tracing history was not easy. Many old buildings have been
torn down or are being demolished. "Sometimes I felt frustrated
that I was not being able to find the right person, or the right
place. It was really hard," she says.
But her love for Chang and for the city kept Li walking. For all
the difficulties, she says she "could better feel the hardships
Chang went through making a living as a woman in Shanghai alone."
"I want to make my own contribution, though very small, into
building Shanghai into a city with history, like Paris or Berlin.
The book is also my dedication to Chang. I hope, through it, she
can feel warmer."
Professor Chen, an expert on Chang and her work, calls the book
"a good explanation of Chang's life, a pre-read to her literary
work."
Li started her exploration of Chang in 1993 when she was working
with the film crew of Red Rose White Rose. But it turned
out at last that the journey took her more than 10 years.
"The hybrid character of the city stuns me; the deep sadness of
Chang's character, life and work amazes me," she says. "Walking in
the city trying to retrieve what Chang had gone through is like
walking in a maze."
Li says there is much to say about the connection between a
writer and the city where he or she lives. It may sound like an
academic theme, but she narrates it in Chang's way, stylized and
intimate.
Seeing that so many old buildings have been torn down -- some
which were standing when the last edition was published -- Li can't
help but feel upset.
"I'm so sad for the disappearance of these old buildings. 'We
cannot go back,' just as Eileen Chang said," she says.
"It is an effort to restore the city's history."'
(Shanghai Daily December 11, 2006)
