On the Writing of Urban Culture in Zhang Ailing’s Novels

【Abstract】Eileen Chang’s novels transcend the cultural boundaries between elegance and vulgarity and show strong secular feelings. While writing secular daily life， it also contains sad thinking about the living conditions， showing the artistic effect of blending elegance and vulgarity.

【Key words】Zhang Ailing; urban; culture

【作者簡介】孔秋芳，女，漢族，青島大學文學院，2016級中國現當代文學方向研究生。

Eileen Chang’s novels are closely related to the city. She is familiar with the life of the urban people and sees the Interlace of the new and the old in the urban life. Although the life of the city has changed greatly， the people living in the city still retain the traditional way of life and ideas. She really understands the plight of modern people， especially women as the main body of society. Her novel discoveries of both and the anatomy of women have reached a certain depth.

Chapter 1. The Relation between Eileen Chang and Urban Culture

Urban literature does not refer to the general sense of citizen literature.In modern cities，civilization and culture are in rapid development and change. Cities accept countless floating population. It is precisely because of these floating population that the process of urbanization continues to accelerate， gradually affecting the original cultural form， blending with fresh literature. It is also the acceleration of urbanization that makes its original cultural uniqueness more and more ambiguous.

As a representative of Shanghai-style popular novel writers.In fact，the foundation of urban culture comes from various cultural background factors.These cultural factors are brought into the city by these outsiders. The life customs and habits of the original countryside or ancient cities are brought into the city， and gradually merged into a part of the city.Shanghai can not be solidified in the construction of culture.It can always find a balance in this constant change and accept the culture from all sides. Urban culture is the cultural factor hidden in the memories of the citizens.

Money as a general equivalent can not only bring the enjoyment of material desire， but also the satisfaction of the senses. The real style of writing shows the selfish side of human nature in front of money， which makes people think deeply. The experience of urban citizen life and the analysis of the city by the logic of secular life are the common characteristics in Eileen Chang’s novels.

Chapter2. Image of Urban Life Space

Shanghai has shown its unique characteristics. Its development has outlined a picture of the blending of rural， urban and foreign domain customs， especially the urban style of Shanghai.In Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s， cafes， movie and dance halls were often visited，and some of the larger cafes were like performance In her own novels， she described in detail the impression of Shanghai at that time.

Her novel has a unique style through her writing of traditional and modern living environment.She has depicted the two different living environments in an opposite way，revealing the identity and status of the characters， depicting the characteristics of the characters， thus making the characters in the novel more three-dimensional.

For the urban citizens at that time， the living environment represented a person’s birth and class status. This is a unique cultural phenomenon of Shanghai residential buildings.She used the living space to create the image of the characters.Through the author’s analogy， we can find that Mrs. Wang’s peaceful and realistic attitude.

Chapter3. Women’s Image in City Core

With the development of society and the rise of consumerism， many writers who take urban life as the narrative object and aesthetic category stay in the mistake and shadow of materialism and ignore the real existence of mind in daily life. However， She was able to maintain an independent spiritual in her perceptual identification with secular life.The observation of life in her works is profound and concrete.

Eileen Chang is good at portraying the fragments in her novels in the unique space of the city. The female characters in the story live in an old and closed way， which results in their narrow interpersonal relationship.The isolated space materially becomes a wall in their spirit or symbolizes the decay of the patriarchal society.

Eileen Chang’s works deduce the fate and life of women.Women are always torn by invisible Fate and constantly sinking in the darkness.She brings her own female identity and unique feelings into the creation of the novel and observes and appreciates the 1920s and 1930s from the perspective of women. Shanghai’s urban folklore， Eileen Chang uses the combination of tradition and reality to deeply depict the image of the city into our memory， so that it has a strong vitality.

References：

[1]Yu Bin.Biography of Zhang Ailing[M].Guangxi Normal University Press，2001 Edition.