“Love in a Fallen City” written in 1943 by Chinese writer Eileen Chang(1920-1995). Eileen Chang is one of the most writers of twentieth- century in China. She was born into an aristocratic family in Shanghai. Chang’s grandfather is Hang peilun who is son in law to Li hongzhang, an influential official in Qing dynasty. Her grandmother Li juyu is the oldest daughter of Li hongzhang. Chang studied literature at the university of Hong Kong. However, in 1941 Japanese attacked on Shanghai, and she had to returned to occupied Shanghai. At that time, she was able to publish some stories and essays which made her to be a literary star. But, due to some reason that The rise of Communist influence made a difficult for her to stay in Shanghai, and she moved to Hong Kong in 1952, then she emigrated to United States 3 years later. In 1944, she fell in love with an author Hu lancheng, but Hu just love with another women. Chang cannot stand her love for him trampled by Hu. So, she understood that everything was gone, never come aback again. In 1973, She moved to Los Angeles. Then she was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment in September 1995.
Eileen Chang enjoys a passionate following both on Taiwan and mainland, and in her twenties, some extraordinary stories combine an unsettled, contemporary sensibility, alert to sexual politics and ambiguity. She always writes some classics of Chinese literature. Most of her stories are popular for young people because some of are poetic forms which can use for young people to praise love. Her most stories are also used in love films to encourage people to seek their love.
“Love in a Fallen City” describes Bai liuseu who comes from Shanghai and experienced a failed marriage. Suffered a lot from relative’...
... middle of paper ...
... the defeat of Hong Kong given a victory to Bai liusu, and actually Bai liusu still keep her pure love more like a trade. Compared to other novels, “Love in a Fallen City” has a “happier ending” than others. But, pure love seems never appear in Eilleen's story because of her real life experience. So, Eilleen uses this story to write about her whole life, and she is a sensitive lady chasing her love with whole life. The “love” between Bai liusu and Fan liuyuan is they really need each other to rely on which is a tragic that true love is fallen just as Hong Kong. Even though Fan begins to treat Bai as family, but Bai still feel sad about that. Because couple should love each other not only because they should live together, but also because they appreciate each other from their heart. However, the love between Bai and Fan just began with a trade rather than attraction.
Feng Meng-long’s story, “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger,” authentically represents how money is valued between Du Tenth and Li Jia. The classic story brings forth how tradition and family values are upheld in the highest honor. The young master Li Jia, who is the son of a prominent local official, embarks on a journey to the Ming capitol of Nanjing with the intention of taking exams. During his travels he meets the beautiful courtesan named Du Tenth who is bound to her madam in a house of ill fame in what is known as the pleasure district. Li Jia, being an immature and unmotivated by any type of responsibility, finds himself splurging all of his travel funds on pleasures with the beautiful Du Tenth. The couple find themselves to have fallen in love with one other. Du Tenth proves to be a very smart and loyal character. She cleverly devises a plan to escape her bind to her madam and leave to be with her love. When the couple make their departure, they go on their journey to their new life together as husband and wife. Du Tenth continues to prove how smart she is by showing time and time again to Li Jia that she was very prepared for their future. The story tragically ends when the gullible Li Jia is tricked by the manipulating Sun Fu to trade his love, Du Tenth, for a thousand pieces of white silver.
Power and Money do not Substitute Love and as it denotes, it is a deep feeling expressed by Feng Menglong who was in love with a public figure prostitute at his tender ages. Sadly, Feng Menglong was incapable to bear the expense of repossessing his lover. Eventually, a great merchant repossessed his lover, and that marked the end of their relationship. Feng Menglong was extremely affected through distress and desperation because of the separation and he ultimately, decided to express his desolation through poems. This incidence changed his perception and the way he represents women roles in his stories. In deed, Feng Menglong, is among a small number of writers who portrayed female as being strong and intelligent. We see a different picture build around women by many authors who profoundly tried to ignore the important role played by them in the society. Feng Menglong regards woman as being bright and brave and their value should never be weighed against
“The Death of Woman Wang”, written by Chinese historian Jonathan Spence, is a book recounting the harsh realities facing citizens of Tancheng country, Shandong Province, Qing controlled China in the late 17th century. Using various primary sources, Spence describes some of the hardships and sorrow that the people of Tancheng faced. From natural disasters, poor leadership, banditry, and invasions, the citizens of Tancheng struggled to survive in a devastated and changing world around them. On its own, “Woman Wang” is an insightful snapshot of one of the worst-off counties in imperial Qing China, however when taking a step back and weaving in an understanding of long held Chinese traditions, there is a greater understanding what happened in
Because of this, many people snuck off to mountains to sing songs and committing suicide with someone they love, rather than spending the rest of their lives with someone they don’t. This became so well-known across China that Lijiang became known as the city of lover’s suicides. Today these stories are all a thing of the past, and getting married has become a traditional thing. Some even believe that women having multiple lovers and were held to such a high status is all just a made up theory. Years ago anthropologists traveled up the mountain from Lijiang to visit a group of people known as the Moso. The first thing noticed when arriving is the way women acting. Most Chinese women at this time are shy, and don’t speak much, while these women are vocal and open. Also, these women work all day, doing everything that their families require, while the men only work when there is something that needs to be done. When asked about it the women just say that it has always been this way, and actually prefer it, they have a big sense of pride for the work they do. The story this custom is said to originate from is there was one a boy that loved working around the house, but the women teased him for this making him feel weak and
In her book, The House of Lim, author Margery Wolf observes the Lims, a large Chinese family living in a small village in Taiwan in the early 1960s (Wolf iv). She utilizes her book to portray the Lim family through multiple generations. She provides audiences with a firsthand account of the family life and structure within this specific region and offers information on various customs that the Lims and other families participate in. She particularly mentions and explains the marriage customs that are the norm within the society. Through Wolf’s ethnography it can be argued that parents should not dec5pide whom their children marry. This argument is obvious through the decline in marriage to simpua, or little girls taken in and raised as future daughter-in-laws, and the influence parents have over their children (Freedman xi).
The Sun of the Revolution by Liang Heng, is intriguing and vivid, and gives us a complex and compelling perspective on Chines culture during a confusing time period. We get the opportunity to learn the story of a young man with a promising future, but an unpleasant childhood. Liang Heng was exposed to every aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China, and shares his experiences with us, since the book is written from Liang perspective, we do not have a biased opinion from an elite member in the Chinese society nor the poor we get an honest opinion from the People’s Republic of China. Liang only had the fortunate opportunity of expressing these events due his relationship with his wife, An American woman whom helps him write the book. When Liang Heng and Judy Shapiro fell in love in China during 1979, they weren’t just a rarity they were both pioneers at a time when the idea of marriages between foreigners and Chinese were still unacceptable in society.
However, this “ladder of success” was not as simple as it seemed. First of all, the class of both families will be a huge barrier. We are not even talking about freedom to love here, there is no such thing in late imperial China. Although we can’t say that love doesn’t exist even in such systems, such as Shen Fu and Chen Yun, but most marriages are not about love. Rather, it was about exchange of values. For example, when two families want to become business partners, the parents of the family will have their son and daughter married, so the two families will have closer bonding which made the business much easier. In this sense, we can see that the couple is simply a tool. In the same sense, the families which has not much “values” can only have marriages with the same class of families. Meaning for a women to climb up the ladder of success is not quite possible as the class of her family is a huge deciding factor for marriage in the
Family became an important aspect in Mah’s life. In the Chinese culture family is typically a vital part of the way of life. Mah may have been ashamed the way her first marriage ended and did not want the same with this man she met named Leon. Leon is a Chinese immigrant and family is his priority. Mah and Leon marry and have two girls, Ona and Nina. They form a family like connection more than ever before. Leon was a fairly stable man and loved his family. Mah and Leon were b...
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
...ery and veiled political references in Bei Dao’s poem, “Notes from the City of the Sun”, are used to exemplify the struggles of the people during the Cultural Revolution.
Searing the mind with stunning images while seducing with radiant prose, this brilliant first novel is a story of damaged lives and the indestructibility of the human spirit. It speaks about loss, about the urgency, pain and ultimate healing power of memory, andabout the redemptive power of love. Its characters come to understand the
In a village left behind as the rest of the China is progressing, the fate of women remains in the hands of men. Old customs and traditions reign supreme, not because it is believed such ways of life are best, but rather because they have worked for many years despite harsh conditions. In response to Brother Gu’s suggestion of joining communist South China’s progress, Cuiqiao’s widower father put it best: “Farmer’s have their own rules.”
“The Bridegroom” by Ha Jin, is a short story about a man struggling with homosexuality in modern day China. The narrator, Old Chang, is the non-biological father of a young woman named Beina. Old Change promised to take care of Beina after her father, a close family friend, passed away. Beina then gets married to a very handsome man named Huang Baowen. Baowen quickly becomes the focus of this story. The climax of this short story is Baowen being revealed as a homosexual. This short story highlights Jin’s theme of homosexuality and shows the internal and external struggles of both Baowen and Old Cheng, through first person narrative, setting, and emotional appeal.
back and forth between the lives of four Chinese women in pre-1949 China and lives of
The Author Li young Lee wanted to speak about the old and new, from when he lived in his old home, to living in America. His Poem “Eating Together” he wrote about this heritage and the traditions of living. Cathy Song was another author who write about the Asian American culture. She had also written through her poems the diversity between the two cultures she had lived in. In the poem “Lost Sister” she explain how a girl looses who she is when she moves and lives in America, this lost sister finds herself feeling alone among people she does not know. Cathy Song is able to write about her past and other peoples experience because of her