Zhang Xinxin (born October 4, 1953 ) is a Chinese writer and director. Outside of China, she is best known for her work Chinese Lives (1986), co-authored with the journalist and oral historian Sang Ye. She has also written short stories, screenplays, and autobiographical works.

Background

Zhang was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu, on October 4, 1953. She was raised in Beijing. As a result of her father's military position and the fact that he was a writer, Zhang had access to a wide variety of books in her childhood and spent much of her time reading. During the Down to the Countryside Movement, she worked as a sent-down youth in Heilongjiang province in northeast China. She enlisted in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Hunan province in central China. After an illness and while still in the PLA, she was sent as a nurse to Xishuangbanna. In 1971, she left the PLA and continued to work as a nurse in Beijing until 1976. She was admitted to Central Academy of Drama in 1979 to study theatre directing. She finished her studies in 1984, but was denied her diploma for a year. She worked as a director at Beijing People's Art Theatre between 1985 and 1988. From 1988 to 1990, she studied at Cornell University and the University of Georgia, and has remained in the United States since.

Works

She began to publish her works in 1978. Her first publication, in the literary journal Beijing Literature, was a short story titled "In the Quiet Ward." During her studies at the Central Academy of Drama, she began writing novellas, the first of which was a 1981 semi-autobiographical work titled "On the Same Horizon" (在同一地平线上). This novella was an initial success and garnered her literary acclaim, though it was later criticized in the context of the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign, which resulted in consequences for her academic and literary career. After the campaign, Zhang started creating a wider variety of works, including Orchid Mania (疯狂的君子兰), a 1983 detective fiction short story, and Chinese Lives (北京人 (一百个中国人的自述)), a 1986 collection of interviews with a variety of ordinary Chinese people. The latter was co-authored with Sang Ye. She has also written plays such as We, You (我们，你们) and an autobiography, Me (我Me), in two volumes. She also wrote and illustrated a graphic novel, Pai Hua Zi and the Clever Girl (拍花子和俏女孩), which she self-published in 2012. More recently, she has written about her experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Style

Zhang's early works deal with themes such as the effects of gender roles and expectations, the duality of womanhood, and the search for an "authentic self." However, after being the subject of political persecution in the 1980s, she shifted from her avant-garde style to a less politically controversial one. Having read a variety of literature throughout her life, Zhang also incorporates Western concepts into her writing. Overall, her works have covered a wide range of genres, from short stories to journalistic non-fiction to screenplays, and a variety of topics reflecting her experiences.

Fiction

Autobiographical fiction

Novels

Novellas

Short stories

Graphic novel

Non-fiction

Film, TV, radio