ABSTRACT
After attending the University of Hong Kong, Zhang Ailing (b. 1921, in Shanghai) gained early recognition in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Shanghai, until the Japanese occupation intervened. Her short stories are known for their skeptical portraits of Europeans, Eurasians, and upper-class Chinese, as is her famous early novella, Jinsuo ji (The golden cangue, 1943). Zhang Ailing excels in psychological studies of human relationships, unmasking petty passions and the inconsistency of the human heart. Critics have particularly admired the complexity of her women characters.
