The Collected Works of Eileen Chang · Half a Lifelong Love

Author: Eileen Chang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: She is a mysterious writer who excels at transforming life into art and is filled with almost romantic tragic emotions. She is a scion of a noble family but takes pride in being self-reliant. She feels compassion for others yet can always see the pitiable and laughable aspects of the common people. She can enjoy the spotlight of public attention as well as the solitude of being alone. This alone is enough to make her a tragic legend. Half a Lifelong Love is not about a grand and passionate love story, but rather about the experiences that countless daughters in the bustling world might encounter. There was once great love, but it ultimately faded into. Only in the moment of reunion do they regret missing the love of their lives.
The End of the Film Suggestion: The bleakness of life lies not in the journey, but in the moment of reflection. He had known Man Zhen long ago—it had been fourteen years already—enough to make him suddenly feel much older. Time passed so quickly, especially for those in middle age; ten or eight years seemed like the blink of an eye. But for the young, three or five years could be a lifetime. From the time he met Man Zhen to when they broke up, it had only been a few years, yet in those years, so many things had happened, as if they had experienced all the joys and sorrows of life and death.
Eileen Chang exists in the history of modern Chinese literature as an outstanding writer, not as a strange or eccentric figure. Perhaps she will not belong solely to the history of modern literature. Imagine a few decades or centuries from now, she might hold a stable position in the history of Chinese literature, much like Li Qingzhao, whom she admired. And we know that many of the modern writers we are familiar with today will likely be forgotten by then.
Half a Lifelong Love is Eileen Chang’s complete novel, originally titled Eighteen Springs, completed in 1951. Later, during her time in the United States, she revised it, removing the slightly political ending and renaming it Half a Lifelong Love.
A few ordinary people—Shi Jun, Man Zhen, Shu Hui, and Cui Zhi—were just young urbanites found everywhere. They played out their love and resentment, entangled in an inescapable web, until they too grew old. Meanwhile, the tumultuous changes of modern Chinese society—September 18th Incident, December 8th Incident, victory in the War of Resistance, the Kuomintang’s takeover, the liberation of Shanghai, and support for Northeast China—only served as their backdrop, subtly coloring their story with the hues of chaos.
What moves readers to sigh and reflect is the story of these few people in turmoil—slivers of obsession, threads of resentment, fragile love, and the helplessness of hiding their faces.
Half a Lifelong Love fully reveals Eileen Chang’s exquisite and ever-rewarding language, like the delicate and intricate patterns of a fine window lattice. Each grid is essential; when seen, it exudes beauty, though its beauty is hard to articulate. Her refined yet melancholic tone is perfect for slowly narrating this long and unresolved love story. Man Zhen and Shi Jun were destined for deep love but shallow fate. Shi Jun married Cui Zhi, two people who could not stand each other. Shu Hui went to the rear, and Cui Zhi’s love for Shu Hui was deep, yet as the saying goes, "The Han River is vast, who can swim across it?" Man Zhen married Zhou Hongcai with a heart heavy as if she were committing suicide.
Time flowed like water, and those once-deep loves slowly faded; the once-heart-wrenching pains were far away; and the once-gut-wrenching hatreds had become as light as flying dandelion seeds.