Zhang Jie (Chinese novelist and short-story writer) Add a review

Zhang Jie (simplified Chinese: 张洁; traditional Chinese: 張潔; pinyin: Zhāng Jié; Wade–Giles: Chang Chieh, 27 April 1937 – 21 January 2022) was a Chinese novelist and short-story writer. She also co-wrote a biography of the film director Wu Zuguang in 1986. She worked on writing different kinds of books for or with young protagonists; these types of works are included in junior and senior high school textbooks in China. She was one of China's first feminist writers.

Zhang Jie mainly wrote on the themes of "people" and "love"; she often emphasized the emotions and relationships between mother and daughter, which was formed mainly by early poverty and the fierce protection of her mother, who died in 1991. The Person Who Loved Me the Most on Earth is Gone is a long story recounting the last eighty days and nights of her mother's life. She remembered her mother's submission, dependence and forbearance to her, and her consideration, complaint, and regret to her mother. This novel is a simple and unpretentious expression of the love between mother and daughter.

Her novel Leaden Wings was translated into German in 1982 and published in England in 1987 by Virago Press. She was awarded the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1985 for Leaden Wings and in 2005 for Wordless, making her the first writer to receive the award twice. She is the only writer who has won the Mao Dun Literature Price twice, and is one of the most influential writers in contemporary China. Zhang Jie was a representative of female writers in contemporary China. In her words, she created many female images with different life paths and destinies, and explored the situation of women in contemporary China from her unique perspective.