eileen chang, whose real name is zhang ying (张瑛), was born in a decaying noble family. she has the extremely prominent family background that her grandfather, zhang peilun (张佩纶)was a noted qing dynasty statesman; her grandmother li juou (李鞠耦) was the firstborn daughter of li hongzhang (李鸿章), minister of qing state court. eileen chang is now recognized as one of the greatest modern chinese writers, though she was completely erased from official histories in mainland china for her first husband hu lancheng (胡兰成). she was the most popular writer in japanese-occupied shanghai during world war ii, with english and chinese stories focusing on human frailties rather than nationalist propaganda. for her non-committal politics and idiosyncrasies, she was boycotted by fellow writers after the war and forced to the margins of literary respectability.