The Golden Cangue
by Eileen Changliterary work· published 1943
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The Golden Cangue (金鎖記) is a 1943 Chinese novella by Eileen Chang. The author's own English translation appeared in the anthology Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas: 1919–1949 (1981) published by Columbia University Press. Fu Lei was an enthusiastic critic of the story, while C. T. Hsia considered it "the greatest novelette in the history of Chinese literature". Later the story was rewritten as the novel The Rouge of the North (怨女).
Adaptations (1)
The Golden Cangue was adapted into a 1988 film.
Rouge of The North1988 · film · 106 min · dir. Fred Tan · IMDb ↗IMDb7.0In this drama, the harsh treatment of women in Chinese society is examined and subtly commented upon as it tells the tale of an impoverished woman living in Shanghai, circa 1910 who tries to support her brother and sister-in-law. A marriage to a wealthy man is arranged for her, and reluctantly she endures it, even though she does not love the man who is as cruel as he is wealthy. His mother is also brutally unkind to her. She then has a son, but her struggles are not over when her husband dies and only leaves her a modest inheritance. Her wretched life has made her bitter, and so she begins making her son suffer as she die; she also becomes addicted to opium.
