Eileen Chang

1920–1995

Eileen Chang (traditional Chinese: 張愛玲; simplified Chinese: 张爱玲; pinyin: Zhāng Àilíng; Wade–Giles: Chang1 Ai4-ling2；September 30, 1920 – September 8, 1995), also known as Chang Ai-ling or Zhang Ailing, or by her sometime pen name Liang Jing (梁京), was a Chinese and American writer. Chang was born in Shanghai to a family with aristocratic lineage and received a bilingual education in Chinese and English. She gained literary prominence in Japanese-occupied Shanghai between 1943 and 1945. In 1952, she left the newly founded People's Republic of China for British Hong Kong and later the United States. Since her rediscovery in the late 1960s, she has been one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed writers in the Chinese-speaking world.