Ailing Zhang

Ailing Zhang, often known as Eileen Chang (1920–1995), was one of the most significant Chinese writers of the modern era. Her novel Half a Lifelong Romance traces thwarted love and emotional survival in wartime Shanghai, and her short stories capture the irony and melancholy of urban life with extraordinary precision.

Born in Shanghai to a declining aristocratic family, Chang rose to literary stardom in the 1940s before moving to Hong Kong and the United States. Her unsparing psychological insight, wit and modern sensibility made her a defining voice of twentieth-century Chinese literature, treasured by readers and filmmakers alike.