Eileen Chang and Su Qing

    Two Sisters Blooming from the Dust:

    In 1940s Shanghai, newspapers and magazines were everywhere, creating a large number of female writers who made a living by writing. Eileen Chang and Su Qing were among the best.

    At the time, Su Qing was divorced, raising several children, and running a magazine, keeping her extremely busy, while Eileen Chang was at the height of her fame. Su Qing commissioned a piece from Eileen Chang, hoping that Chang would contribute to her magazine "out of consideration for their shared gender." Seeing Su Qing's quick wit, Eileen Chang immediately sent her a short story, "The Blockade." Unexpectedly, this story greatly impressed Hu Lancheng, who came to Su Qing to ask for Eileen Chang's address. The result was a sensational love affair that captivated Shanghai and left endless topics of conversation for later generations.

    In fact, Eileen Chang and Su Qing were two completely different women. Eileen Chang came from a prominent family and always maintained an aloof lifestyle. Su Qing came from Ningbo, Zhejiang. Although her family was wealthy, her husband, Li Qinhou, was too proud to ask his family for money. Once, when the family was starving, Su Qing asked Li Qinhou for money. Li Qinhou, unemployed and furious, slapped Su Qing across the face upon seeing her asking for money, yelling, "You're a cultured person, why don't you earn your own money?" This slap shattered the marriage of this seemingly perfect couple and forced Su Qing onto the path of a career woman. Her profession was writing.

    Hu Lancheng and Zhang Ailing, introduced by Su Qing, had only known each other for a short time, yet their tumultuous romance became common knowledge in Shanghai, greatly upsetting Su Qing. Su Qing had known Hu Lancheng before Zhang Ailing, and the two had already been having an affair.

    To Hu Lancheng, Su Qing was a beautiful woman of both talent and looks. He once publicly stated that Su Qing had "a perfectly shaped nose and mouth, an impeccably oval face, handsome eyes and well-defined eyebrows, possessing a boyish charm—in the cold light of an unlit lamp, with half her profile darkened, her beauty gained a new maturity and completeness."

    Su Qing never wrote fictional novels; her writing was mostly realistic. In her book *Ten Years of Continued Marriage*, published in the autumn of 1949, she used the name "Tan Weiming" to allude to Hu Lancheng. Given Su Qing's straightforward and outspoken personality, both *Ten Years of Marriage* and *Ten Years of Continued Marriage* were essentially her life accounts. This Tan Weiming "had served as a vice minister and also as the editor-in-chief of a newspaper." "Although he wasn't handsome and didn't care about his appearance, he possessed an admirable demeanor. He was a good propagandist; I was completely captivated by him. I only realized I was a propagandist five minutes later, and alas, I found myself involuntarily drawn into his arms."

    This man was unmistakably Hu Lancheng.

    Zhang Ailing, however, was unaware of their secret relationship; at that time, she was only in her early twenties and lacked worldly wisdom. At the time, Hu Lancheng was imprisoned for literary offenses. Su Qing believed that Zhang Ailing was famous and a popular writer with influence, so she took her to the home of Zhou Fohai, the head of the Executive Yuan of the Wang Jingwei regime, hoping to persuade Wang Jingwei to release Hu Lancheng through Zhou Fohai.

    Su Qing was a close friend of Zhou Fohai's wife, Yang Shuhui, and Zhang Ailing couldn't get a word in edgewise, so she looked at the Zhou family's antiques. Zhou Fohai leaned closer and said, "This is a Duan inkstone, the 'Fish Brain Jelly' and 'Rouge Halo' are the two best, both from the Da Xi Cave. Miss Zhang is a great writer, so I imagine she's quite knowledgeable about the Four Treasures of the Study."

    Zhang Ailing shook her head and laughed, "Our generation all used Parker pens."

    Zhou Fohai nodded and said, "Yes, yes."

    Yang Shuhui and Su Qing came out from the inner room. Yang said, "With your blockheaded brain, you actually dare to chat with such a talented woman?"

    Zhou Fohai said, "I noticed Miss Zhang is interested in inkstones."

    Zhang Ailing, caught in the middle, felt a little embarrassed, but she joked, "China is really something, even the names of inkstones are so beautiful, 'Fish Brain Jelly' and 'Rouge Halo.' The ancients were good, and the moderns are even better." "We can never catch up,"

    Su Qing said. "So you've put on your old Qing dynasty clothes."

    Zhou Fohai said, "It's nice for young ladies to wear them, but if we wear them, it'll be considered a restoration."

    Yang Shuhui's face darkened upon hearing this: "You always talk about your profession. I want to ask you, what crime did Hu Lancheng commit that warrants his imprisonment? You release him without a reason. You people are good at swatting flies, but not tigers."

    Zhou Fohai sat down, drinking tea with his head down, and finally said, "It's nothing serious, just that Mr. Wang wants to talk to him."

    Mrs. Zhou added, "It's impossible that they've been talking for a month, is it?"

    And so, Hu Lancheng was released.

    Out of gratitude for Su Qing's "life-saving grace," Hu Lancheng would often visit Su Qing, even if it meant leaving Zhang Ailing behind. Later, in his book *This Life, This World*, he wrote: "One night, I went to Su Qing's house, and Eileen Chang happened to be there too. She liked to look at me in front of others, but she was also jealous and felt very wronged." Meeting her old flame at her girlfriend's house, Eileen Chang immediately felt jealous, unable to hide it, which Hu Lancheng noticed, as did Su Qing. It's unclear how this incident ultimately ended. Hu Lancheng was like a night owl, always appearing suddenly at Su Qing's house at dusk. In her novel, Su Qing wrote:

    "However, not long after, I finally met someone who knew me, named Tan Weiming. He had a thin face, a particularly large head, bronze skin, and disheveled hair like withered grass—a typical unkempt scholar. Yet he possessed astonishing intelligence and was erudite, knowledgeable in society, economics, literature, art, and more. This awe-inspired me with his wisdom, and I willingly submitted to him. He came to my house every day, and we would sit and talk until midnight. The strong smell of tea and cigarettes kept us both excited and tireless." Su

    Qing

    's sister, Su Hong, later told a reporter, "My sister and Zhang Ailing were very close. They often went shopping together, watched movies together, and even swapped pants." Two women so close that they swapped clothes—this was a rare level of friendship between women. In folk terms, two close friends are described as "so close they share a pair of pants."

    At the time, due to the booming newspaper and magazine industry, Tan Zhengbi, author of *A History of Chinese Women's Literature*, proposed holding a gathering of female writers.

    At the gathering, the host asked Su Qing which female writer's work

    she considered the best. Su Qing, in front of the assembled female writers, boldly declared, "I never read the works of female writers; I only read Zhang Ailing's articles." The host then asked Zhang Ailing, "Let's hear Ms. Zhang Ailing's opinion." Zhang Ailing said, "Among ancient female writers, my favorite is Li Qingzhao. Among modern writers, my favorite is only Su Qing. Before Su Qing, Bing Xin's elegance often bordered on affectation; Ding Ling's early works were good, but later she seemed somewhat lacking in spirit. Su Qing was the first to truly grasp the joys of life; her characteristic is 'great simplicity.' Through her elegant and refined writing style, the most ordinary words become the most moving, because she understands human nature better than anyone else."

    This blatant mutual appreciation between the two aroused the anger of many female writers present. After the meeting, everyone ignored them, but the two continued to chat and laugh as usual.

    At this time, Su Qing had not yet founded her own magazine; her only source of income was writing. However, her writing was not as prolific as Eileen Chang's, and her royalties were sporadic, making her life quite difficult at times.

    Her essay "On Divorce" greatly impressed Chen Gongbo, the puppet mayor of Shanghai, who believed she had vividly captured the mindset of divorced men and women. Knowing that Su Qing desperately wanted a job to support her family, Chen Gongbo proactively wrote her a letter, asking her to work as a city government commissioner, helping with document processing. Su Qing accepted without hesitation.

    Some time later, she suddenly received a secret letter; a well-meaning person warned her that such a life was too dangerous for her and that she should be wary of someone plotting against her.

    Su Qing was terrified after reading the letter. Chen Gongbo, sensing her distress, secretly sent her 100,000 silver dollars to start a magazine.

    At the time, white paper for printing newspapers and magazines was extremely scarce, and Chen Gongbo secured two trainloads of paper for her. Su Qing, not wanting to wait a moment, immediately took action, registering Tiandi Publishing House and Tiandi Magazine.

    On the day the paper was to be transported, Su Qing got up very early and personally escorted the truck driver. With a truckload of white paper, Su Qing sat atop the pile. The truck sped along, the wind whipping her hair, the paper swaying precariously. She paraded through the streets, smug and triumphant.

    At this time, rumors were circulating in Shanghai tabloids that Su Qing was Chen Gongbo's "casual mistress" and Zhang Ailing was Hu Lancheng's "literary lover."

    Su Qing showed the tabloid to Eileen Chang, who pushed it away, saying, "I never read this." Su Qing herself didn't read it either; a friend had specially saved it for her. She burned the entire stack of tabloids, but could no longer escape Chen Gongbo.

    Two years later, a man named Jiang Gui visited her, bringing her a newspaper with a photo of Chen Gongbo's execution. Su Qing was terrified and handed Jiang Gui a bankbook, saying, "Here, take it all. You handle it for me." All the money on it had been transferred to her by Chen Gongbo. After

    her former best friend stopped mentioning

    Chen Gongbo's execution, all sorts of rumors circulated on the streets, and fear gripped the city. Su Qing lived a secluded life, trying to keep a low profile and avoid any further trouble. However, returning to the peace she had before fame seemed impossible; men kept coming uninvited, and Jiang Gui was one of them.

    Jiang Gui had read Su Qing's novels and developed feelings for her; the two became acquainted and eventually lived together. After Chen Gongbo was executed, Jiang Gui, fearing repercussions, moved to Wuxi and never returned to Shanghai. Occasionally, Jiang Gui would take the night train to Shanghai, stay half a night at Su Qing's apartment in Xieqiao Lane, and then catch the early morning bus back to Wuxi before dawn. Each time he came, he would call Su Qing, who would then arrange for the children to sleep on the floor. In the dead of night, Jiang Gui would go in and find the children sleeping haphazardly on the floor. He would hop across the floor carefully, afraid of stepping on a child. In the dim light, Su Qing would sit alone in a wicker chair, waiting for him.

    Later, Jiang Gui and Su Qing drifted apart. Su Qing later wrote about her relationship with Jiang Gui in her novel "Ten Years of Continued Marriage," a completely factual work. All the characters Su Qing had dealings with can be found in the novel, except for her former close friend Eileen Chang. Years later, Eileen Chang's non-fiction novel *Little Reunion* was published, detailing all the people she had met, but omitting any mention of Su Qing. Su Qing's last novel was titled *A Beauty

    on a Wrong Path

    *, but in reality, she and Eileen Chang were the true beauties on a wrong path. Whether for some purpose or due to youthful naiveté, they met unreliable men during the chaotic years of war, each going far down a different path, ultimately meeting the same end: both impoverished and dying of depression. The difference was that one died in China, and the other in a foreign land.

    After 1949, Eileen Chang calmly observed the situation for a period, even going to the countryside to participate in the land reform. Seeing many of the slogans and extreme practices of the time, she couldn't tolerate it and concluded that her future in China was bleak. The uniform blue or black "People's Liberation Army uniforms" seen everywhere were so ugly to her; she told her brother Zhang Zijing, "I would rather die than wear such clothes." Later, she used the excuse of going to the University of Hong Kong to repeat her studies, crossing the border from Shenzhen's Luohu district to Hong Kong, and finally going to the United States.

    Compared to Eileen Chang, Su Qing was far more adaptable. Overnight, she embraced the changing times, donning a women's "People's Suit" and blending into the crowds, making it impossible to tell she was once a popular female writer in old Shanghai. Her final choice to stay on the mainland stemmed from her belief in her ability to survive and that regardless of who was in power, the necessities of life would still exist; it was simply a matter of finding a job to earn a living. Su Qing later became a screenwriter, but during the Anti-Rightist Campaign, she was implicated in the "Hu Feng Incident" and imprisoned. After her release, her salary was suspended, and when she fell ill, she couldn't even afford the two yuan needed for a doctor's visit. She died in the winter of 1982, filled with resentment.

    Thirteen years later, on September 8, 1995, Eileen Chang's body was discovered. Her will contained the following sentence: "Do not examine my body, do not hold any ceremony, and simply discard my ashes in a deserted place..."