Chung\nLing was born in 1945, in Chongqing, China. Because her father was a military\nofficer with the Republic of China\u2019s Embassy in Japan, she travelled to Japan\nwith her parents at the age of three. In 1950 her family moved to Taiwan, where\nthey eventually settled in Kaohsiung. After graduating from the Department of\nForeign Languages and Literature, Tunghai University, Chung Ling went on to pursue\nfurther studies in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at Taiwan\nUniversity for one year. Later she received her master\u2019s and PhD degrees in\ncomparative literature from the University of Wisconsin\u2014Madison, and then taught\nat the State University of New York. She married the well-known film director\nHu Chin-chuan in 1977 and moved to Hong Kong, dividing her time between Hong\nKong and Taiwan amid her many roles in teaching, administration and writing.\nEarlier this year she joined the University of Macau (UM) as college master.<\/p>\n\n
Falling In Love with\nLiterature\u2014and the Film Director<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Now\na renowned poet and fiction writer, Chung Ling began to publish her own articles\nwhen she was still in high school, which was thanks to her uncle who, himself a\nbook lover, often bought Chung Ling the Chinese translations of western\nclassics such as Pride and Prejudice <\/i>and\nLe Comte de Monte-Cristo<\/i>. At age 15,\nChung Ling stumbled upon a complete collection of The Tale of the Swordsman in Shu Shan<\/i> by Li Shanji in her father\u2019s\nboss\u2019s home. Finding the story utterly irresistible, she borrowed the\ncollection which included more than 100 volumes, and having some spare time\nbecause of being exempted from the senior high school entrance examination, she\nfinished all of them. \u201cThat fantasy world depicted in the novel was vastly different\nfrom the world I was in\u2014in that world anything could happen,\u201d recalls Chung\nLing. \u201cIt re-conceptualised my perception of time and space. It was extremely\nimaginative and it played a seminal role in my later works. Many of the fantasy\nscenes in my later novels are borrowed from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
In\ncollege she read Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung, Wang Wenxing, and a number of other\nTaiwanese writers. She also continued with her own writing. To this day she has\npublished a dozen short story collections and books of poetry. Talking about\nher writing style, Chung Ling admits that she has a penchant for writing about\nancient times, which she attributes to the influence of The Tale of the Swordsman in Shu Shan<\/i>, but she says she also likes\nto write about women. Take her Portraits\nof the Beauties<\/i>, a poetry series, for instance. In this series she wrote in\nthe first person about many famous females in Chinese history. \u201cI wrote about\nXi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Tang Wan (the wife of the poet Lu You), Su Xiaoxiao, Wu\nZetian, and so on,\u201d says Chung Ling. \u201cI tried to imagine, from a modern woman\u2019s\npoint of view, what it would be like to live in the ancient times as these women,\nto feel the pressure they had felt.\u201d In Cross\nOver<\/i> she told the story of a modern woman who time-travelled back to the\nNanyue Kingdom. \u201cIn this book, I was also trying to imagine how a modern woman would\nfeel if she suddenly found herself back in ancient China and entangled in the complexities\nof political conflicts and emotions like love, hate and revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s\ntempting to expect that a well-known fiction writer who has written many fascinating\nstories that have stretched the readers\u2019 imagination time and time again would\nprobably disagree with the saying that, \u201cTruth is stranger than fiction\u201d, for\nafter all what could be so strange in real life as to surprise a creative\nwriter? But interestingly, the beginning of Chung Ling\u2019s love story with the\nfamous film director Hu Chin-chuan was indeed one for the books. It all started\nwhen she was still teaching at the State University of New York at Albany. One\nday in a Chinese literature class, an American student told Chung Ling that the\nChinese director who had just won an award at the Cannes Film Festival\n(editor\u2019s note: Hu Chin-chuan was awarded a grand prix at the Cannes Film\nFestival in 1975 for his film A Touch of\nZen<\/i>) was in New York at the moment, and asked what Chung Ling thought about\ninviting him to give a lecture. Chung Ling liked the suggestion and tried to\ncontact Hu. Not only did that lecture turn out to be a great success, but Chung\nand Hu hit it off immediately. Several nights later, Chung Ling was surprised\nby a phone call from Hu, who said out of the blue, \u201cChung Ling, marry me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
What\nwas Chung Ling\u2019s response then? \u201cI was absolutely dumbfounded,\u201d recalls Chung\nLing. \u201cAnd I said to him how about I come to New York to meet you?\u201d Chung admits\nthat she too admired Hu\u2019s talent. \u201cHis works are one of a kind,\u201d says Chung. \u201cWhat\ndistinguishes his works from the works of others is this rich flavour of\nChinese culture, the same way an intellectual stands out from the average\nperson because of the aura of intellect.\u201d Chung later learned that Hu\u2019s call\nwas made during a dinner in response to a dare from his friends who knew he\nfelt attracted to Chung. Emboldened by alcohol, he called, and the rest is\nhistory.<\/p>\n\n
New Relationship with UM\nLong after the Honeynoon<\/b><\/p>\n\n
From\nTaiwan to the United States to Hong Kong, Prof. Chung has been to many places\nin the world. Why did she choose to join UM? \u201cI\u2019ve known Prof. Haydn Chen, the\nvice rector at UM, for a long time,\u201d says Chung Ling. \u201cHe is very dedicated to education,\nwhich I admire very much and which has influenced me deeply.\u201d Chung says she\nstrongly identifies with Haydn\u2019s residential college concept. \u201cAnd what\u2019s more\nimportant, he gives me and the other college masters a lot of freedom to decide\nhow we want to develop a distinctive character and a unique style for our\nresidential colleges, as well as how we plan to help our students mature over a\ncourse of four years,\u201d says Chung Ling. \u201cI think this is an amazing\nopportunity\u2014to influence young people during the final phase in their character\ndevelopment in a positive and meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
So\nwhat\u2019s Prof. Chung\u2019s vision for the residential college she is in charge of? \u201cI\nhope our residential college is like a warm home where I, the associate master,\nfellows, and the tutor team comprised of upperclassmen, make the students feel\nloved and cared about,\u201d says Chung. \u201cAlso, we will organise various kinds of\nactivities like workshops, talks and films to help the students know more about\ntraditional Chinese culture, history and literature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Chung\nplans to have different educational foci for students from mainland China and\nstudents from Macao to meet their different needs. \u201cFor example, because most\nof the students from mainland China are the only child in their families due to\nthe \u2018One Child\u2019 policy and thus grew up in an overly indulgent environment,\nthey need to learn to be less self-absorbed and to think more about others and\ncare about society,\u201d notes Chung Ling. \u201cWhereas students from Macao need to be\nexposed to a different set of values, especially values about money, to prevent\nthe ubiquitous presence of casinos and the prevalent gambling practice in Macao\nfrom insidiously implanting the \u2018Money Is Everything\u2019 materialism in them. I\nknow a very accomplished historian, who is an intellectual with a great sense\nof mission. He used to be the managing director of a large company. I could\ninvite him over to give a talk to our students. I think there is a lot our\nstudents can learn from him. And this is just one example of the kind of things\nwe can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Prof.\nChung\u2019s ties with Macao date back to 1977\u2014that was when she first visited this\ncity on a honeymoon with her new husband Hu. Now it\u2019s been 30 years, and how\nmuch has Macao changed compared to the one in her memory? \u201cThe place has\nchanged a lot for sure, but what has stayed the same are the friendliness and the\njoy of the people here,\u201d remarks Chung. \u201cEveryone I\u2019ve seen here, no matter what\nthey do, just seems genuinely happy.\u201d A lover of nature, Prof. Chung says she\u2019s\nbeen to Coloane once and it has left a very deep impression on her.<\/p>\n\n
An\nearly riser, Chung Ling normally gets up at six to write for about one hour and\na half before she sets to work. But she has to suspend this early morning routine\nfor a while because there is so much to prepare for the new residential college.\n\u201cThere are a lot of things to do. Every day when I get home I\u2019m too tired to\nwrite,\u201d says Chung. \u201cAnd every morning when I get up, I\u2019m too preoccupied with\nthe work about the new college to write either. So maybe I\u2019ll resume writing\nwhen the college is on the right track.\u201d Prof. Chung discloses that she is\nwriting a long novel, but she isn\u2019t entirely happy with the beginning, so she is\nthinking about starting again from scratch. If you are a fan of her books, you may\nhave to hold your breath a little longer before having the pleasure of diving into\nher next book.<\/p>\n\n
<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Recommended Book and Film\nfrom Prof. Chung<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Fatigue Beyond\nLife and Death<\/i><\/b> by Mo Yan<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Fatigue Beyond Life and\nDeath<\/i> by Mo\nYan, published in 2006, depicts the changes of the countryside in China over a\ncourse of 50 years from 1950 to 2000. Prof. Chung thinks one of the most\nimportant aspects of any fiction book is readability, and she thinks this book\nis very humorous and entertaining.<\/p>\n\n
Dragon Gate\nInn<\/i><\/b> by Hu Chin-chuan<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Dragon Gate Inn<\/i>, written and directed by Hu\nChin-chuan, was screened in Taiwan in 1967. Prof. Chung says if one wants to find\na film that best represents the spirit of chivalry in ancient China, he or she\nneed not look further than the Dragon\nGate Inn<\/i>. What\u2019s more, the director integrates the moves of Peking Opera\ninto martial arts, giving the film a new style similar to that of modern\ndances.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chung Ling was born in 1945, in Chongqing, China. Because her father was a military officer with the Republic of China\u2019s Embassy in Japan, she travelled to Japan with her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n