"Biography of Zhang Ailing": Scholar Zhang Jun interprets Zhang Ailing, who pursues perfectionism

"Write about genius and sadness, and give people a long inspiration." The biography of Zhang Ailing (revised edition) by scholar Zhang Jun was recently published by Guangxi Normal University Press.

"The Biography of Zhang Ailing" (revised edition) is a biography written by Zhang Ailing, a unique female writer in the history of modern Chinese literature, with her personal experience as the meridian and her literary career as the weft, intertwining and detailing Zhang Ailing's legendary life. The book is divided into eight chapters, such as "Dream of Genius in a Troubled World", "Chaos in Hong Kong", "Legend of Shanghai", "Love in the City", "Dust Settled", "Quietly Leaving", "Forgotten Years in the United States", "Sadness in the Moonlight", etc. Based on a large number of textual materials about Zhang Ailing, it talks about her growth environment, emotional life, literary career and other aspects, and depicts for readers a cold view of the world' glitz, deep understanding of life sentimentality, and pursuit of perfectionism.

The author Zhang Jun, born in 1972, a native of Suizhou, Hubei Province, is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Chinese of Sun Yat-sen University. He is the author of "Fifteen Lectures of Zhang Ailing", "Biography of Zhang Ailing", "Research on The Contemporary Chinese Literary System (1949-1976)" and so on.

Zhang Jun wrote in the preface to the revised edition that the publication of Zhang Ailing's biography after the 1990s cannot but be said to be self-challenging. The "Zhang Ailing Fever", which has been broadcast from overseas, Hong Kong and Taiwan to the mainland, has lasted for decades, during which many biographies of Zhang Ailing have been published, but Zhang Ailing is still receiving unabated enthusiasm from many readers and intellectuals, and her personal story, as well as her Shanghai in the 1930s, is steadily entering the public imagination space of today's China as an increasingly huge image of charm. Regarding Zhang Ailing, we are not talking too much, but too little. We render and repeat too much of her "legend" as a talented woman, and too little will explore the inner light and darkness she has experienced in reality, as a living and feeling woman. "I will interpret the beautiful and not-so-beautiful years and lives that Zhang Ailing has experienced from a new perspective."

In the preface, the author Zhang Jun answers the reader's questions about Zhang Ailing.

Why is Zhang Ailing "the most thorough aestheticist in China in the 20th century"?

Zhang Jun believes that Zhang Ailing has pursued perfection and pursued the ultimate in her life, which is not only the charm of "Legend", but also an important reason for her personal marital life tragedy, and the profound cultural and psychological connotation behind the "Zhang Ailing Fever" that continues to this day. In contrast, some other Chinese writers and poets in the 20th century, such as Xu Zhimo, Dai Wangshu, Shen Congwen, Xiao Hong, and He Qifang, although their creations also had different degrees of aesthetic tendencies, their attitude towards life was far from being as thorough as Zhang Ailing's. Zhang Ailing's aesthetic attitude is related to her observation of life and the division of the world's "vision". This "vision" of hers is extremely personal and personal, and has appeared as early as the time of her childhood parents' divorce. It's hard for others to be like her.

For the marriage between Zhang Ailing and the Wang pseudo-official Hu Lancheng, which lasted for more than three years, Zhang Jun also gave his own interpretation in the book, and Zhang Jun believed that this chaotic love had a great impact on Zhang Ailing's later life path. Although Zhang Ailing never mentioned a single word in her life's writings, the rupture of her relationship with Hu Lancheng was deeply damaged and changed her attitude towards life. When they began to fall in love in 1944, Zhang Ailing had a lot of warm imagination about the external world, hoping to seek the ultimate and perfection of life from the external world, after 1947, Zhang was disappointed in everything other than herself and began to turn to a purer inner life. This is also why she liked to show off her costumes in the 1940s, but she made a big splash in the magazine media, but after the 1950s, she quickly faded out, and in her later years, she simply closed her doors and was isolated from the world. However, Zhang Ailing has no resentment towards Hu Lancheng, and she borrowed books from him in the 50s.

(Yan Durong media reporter Song Yan)