Eileen Chang Limited Edition 100 Fountain Pen

Eileen chang limited edition 100  fountain pen

“Life is short, but long is the suffering”

Once lamented Shanghai-born writer Eileen Chang (1920 - 1995), also know as Zhang Ailing (张爱玲).  Yet in her dizzyingly eventful life punctuated by heartaches and turmoil, there is also much to celebrate her elegance, her dreams and ideals, and her immense talents as a novelist, essayist and screenwriter.

In the Year 2020. which marks the 100^th Anniversary of Chang’s birth, Elephant & Coral is releasing the Limited-edition Fountain Pen, You Lan 《幽兰》, in honour of one of China’s most distinguished  female authors of the 20^th Century.  The name of the pen is inspired by how Chang’s fans had described her as 空谷幽兰，translated as “a tranquil orchid in an empty valley.”

The barrel and cap of the pen are adorned with a vintage “peacock blue” that harks back to the glitzy days of 1920s and 1930s Shanghai, when the city became renowned as “The Paris of the East, the New York of the West”.  It is also the hue of Chang’s favourite qipao dress, and the colour chosen for the self-designed cover of the first book.

The pen nib bears an engraved rose in bloom, a reference to Chang’s evocative novella, Red Rose, White Rose.  Limited to 100 pieces, the You Lan Fountain Pen is housed in a box depicting an exclusive artwork of Chang’s blue qipao.

Hailing from a renowned family, and educated in Chinese and English, Chang rose to fame during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai between 1943 and 1945, when her novel, Love in a Fallen City, and novella, The Golden Cangue, were published to great acclaim.

Her first marriage in 1944, to the writer Hu Lancheng, ended with divorce in 1947.  She later moved to Hong Kong, where she worked as a translator.  In 1955, she left for the United States where she married American Screenwriter, Ferdinand Reyher in New York City.  She became an US Citizen in 1960.  In 1995, she passed away in Los Angeles, leaving behind a legacy that includes other famous works like Half a Lifelong Romance, Naked Earth and Lust, Caution.

In You Lan, Chang’s memory lives on - like an elusive rare orchid, whose scent and essence continue to linger.

The barrel and cap of the pen are adorned with a vintage “peacock blue” that harks back to the glitzy days of 1920s and 1930s Shanghai, when the city became renowned as “The Paris of the East, the New York of the West”.  It is also the hue of Chang’s favourite qipao dress, and the colour chosen for the self-designed cover of the first book.

The pen nib bears an engraved rose in bloom, a reference to Chang’s evocative novella, Red Rose, White Rose.

Limited to 100 pieces, the You Lan Fountain Pen is housed in a box depicting an exclusive artwork of Chang’s blue qipao.