SECRETS

The sculpture in Repulse Bay Gardens

Two benches, a suitcase and a pile of books to commemorate the life of Eileen Chang

At The Repulse Bay Gardens, you will find a sculpture consisting of two green benches, a suitcase and a pile of books commemorating the life of novelist and 1940s Shanghai cultural icon, Eileen Chang (1920-1995).

Chang is best known for her fictional writings chronicling the everyday lives (and loves) of women, all too often beset by meddling, betrayal and bittersweet reunions. Now considered one of the most perceptive authors of Chinese contemporary literature, she was at one time dismissed by critics for neglecting the politics of the 20th century in favour of more “mundane” matters.

Chang’s novella, Love in a Fallen City, is set in Repulse Bay and features the old Repulse Bay Hotel, where her mother lived for a short time. The story, inspired by two of her mother’s friends, follows star-crossed lovers Bai Liusu and Fan Liuyan in the war era. The original hotel–a 1920s art-deco building–was demolished in 1982, but within the complex that replaced it lies a terraced restaurant, The Verandah, a replica of the old hotel restaurant where the two lovers met.

As authors often do, Chang drew inspiration from the characters in her own life, many of whom were troubled. Born into a prominent family in Shanghai, she was only a few years old when her mother fled to Europe after her father became addicted to opium and took in a concubine.

Chang’s parents reconciled in 1927 but ultimately divorced in 1930. This time, her mother went to France. Chang and her younger brother lived with their father, but relations reached breaking point when Chang contracted dysentery. She was confined to her bedroom for six months until she ran away shortly after her 18th birthday.

Chang studied at the University of Hong Kong. She majored in English literature and was one semester short of graduating with a formal degree when Hong Kong fell to Japan. Chang returned to China where she published a collection of essays which catapulted her to literary fame in Shanghai.

At 24, she married controversial Chinese writer Hu Lancheng (who was briefly an official in the collaborationist regime installed by the Japanese in Nanjing), although the marriage only lasted three years. In 1952, Chang moved to Hong Kong, where she worked as a translator for the United States Information Service. Her novel Naked Earth (1954) was commissioned as antiCommunist propaganda. Chang finally settled in the United States where she met and was married to American screenwriter, Ferdinand Reyher, until his death in 1967. She published her most famous book, Lust, Caution in 1979–a story that reportedly took her over two decades to complete.

Like many of her female protagonists, Chang spent her later years alone. Despite her growing fame in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China throughout the 1970s, she became more reclusive. She was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment by her landlord in September 1995. Her neighbours had no idea that she was a celebrated author. Her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Chang’s sculpture, Hong Kong Journeys, takes the form of three benches, each of which represents a different phase in her life; the first bench is surrounded by bullets on the ground, representing wartime; the second by piles of books; and the third by a suitcase and jacket, portraying her flight from Hong Kong. Where the sculpture is

The Repulse Bay Gardens (in front of 109 Repulse Bay Road, along the walkway connecting Repulse Bay Road and Beach Road).