It is not often that you find a Chinese teacher that is as qualified to teach an English Literature class as she is a Chinese class.
CHS Chinese teacher Hongling Zhang came to America from China with the intention of studying law at Washington University. However, she soon found that a different path began to interest her.
“I came here to go to the WashU Law School. Then I took a writing course at Fontbonne and both of the teachers were very helpful, so I started to write,” she said. “It still seems like a mystery that I decided to switch. It’s a very big change. Normally people wouldn’t switch from law school to writing because it’s very difficult to make a living by writing.”
Despite the obvious challenges associated with this career path, Zhang’s passion for writing overcame her reservations. In 2000, Zhang graduated from Washington University with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing.
Borne from this background in creative writing was Zhang’s interest in translation and in writing her own novels.
Zhang’s first published work is a short story entitled, “The Paper Cranes.””. Many of the stories are centered on the Vietnam War.
“I am interested in the Vietnam War,” she said. “I like the interaction between Western culture and Eastern culture. I feel like, although it is a horrible way for people to interact, it is still a very important experience for people to learn from each other.”
Zhang’s status as a Chinese immigrant in America makes her acutely aware of the importance of identifying and reconciling the differences between Eastern and Western culture.
These experiences have given Zhang a unique viewpoint in her writing.
“Living here in the States for almost 20 years makes me different,” Zhang said. “I have different perspective from Chinese writers and my experiences are very different from American writers. I believe writing is about the fusion of different experiences.”
Unfortunately, between the five Chinese classes that Zhang currently teaches both at CHS and at Wydown Middle School, she has little time for writing while school is in session.
“I can’t write while I’m teaching, that’s for sure,” she said. “Writing is not only time consuming but it’s also energy consuming. After a day of teaching I don’t have any extra energy.”
Her latest novel, which focuses on her experiences growing up during the Cultural Revolution in China, has been in the works for the past ten years.
“It’s pretty close to being finished, but unfortunately I can only work on it during the summer,” she said.
However, during the school year she does not abandon her passion for writing altogether. She works on translating Chinese novels into English.
“I take it as a way to learn more about English writing,” Zhang said. “I can do translating for half an hour a day and it doesn’t require me to think about the characters or the plot, I can just think about the words.”
Though one might expect Zhang to view translation simply as a way to pass the time, she actually believes that translating novels has been an invaluable experience for her.
“Translation has helped me write tremendously, she said.“I see translation as a way to read something very carefully because there’s nothing more close reading than translation.”
Her most recent translation, “The Bathing Women,” is a best-seller in China and is now available in Barnes and Noble, Amazon and on iTunes. The original author, Tie Ning, is head of the Writer’s Association in China. Zhang’s translation of “The Bathing Women” marks the first of Tie Ning’s books to be made available in English.
Zhang hopes to continue a career in writing all her life, “Either way – writing or translating – I just want to do things related to literature and to writing.”
In college, when she first got the idea that she wanted to spend her life as a writer, her friends were doubtful.
“They all thought that I was crazy,” she said.“They told me that I wouldn’t make a living majoring in English, particularly because English isn’t my native language. I don’t know, I guess it was crazy enough to work.”