Little Reunion

      Thirty years ago when Eileen Chang tried to publish her novel, Little Reunion, her editors advised her not to do so. They were afraid that the semi-autobiography was too provocative and that it might endanger the author’s status as a cultural icon. Chang took the advice demanding that the manuscripts be “destroyed.” The editors obviously didn't follow the instruction. Thirty years later, the book was finally published, and it has become a whirlwind in the Chinese-speaking world.

      Arguably the most talented women writer in China in the 20th century, Eileen Chang's personal life was not so impressive. She fell in love with a politician who worked for the Japanese occupation forces during the War of Resistance against Japan. She loved him so much that she chose to ignore the facts that he was a traitor and married him, even though he had affairs with other women. She eventually broke up with him, but she was deeply hurt, both emotionally and professionally. Being a traitor’s lover, she was widely despised and criticized.

      The novel is ironically named Little Reunion, in contrast with traditional Chinese dramas, which usually feature “big reunion” endings. In a typical traditional Chinese drama, a poor young man might have several lovers to support or sponsor him on his way to Beijing for Imperial exam, who, becomes an elite governmental official in the end. If he finally succeeded, all his lovers would have a big reunion with him, and they would live happily ever after. Chang sees her love story's ending, if there is one, as a little reunion, as a big reunion is impossible: A traitor is doomed with no future; she does not tolerate sharing her love with other women.

      Chang went to the United States in the 1950s and married an American playwright much older than she. They loved each other. However, her husband was in very poor health. For a time after her husband died in 1967, she made a living by translating classic Chinese novels into English.

      Chang was found alone and dead in her in a Los Angeles apartment in 1995. Her ashes were scattered on open wild land, as she wished.

Little Reunion (《小团圆》)

By Eileen Chang（张爱玲）

Beijing Publishing Group (北京出版社出版集团) April 2009, 28 yuan