In 1924, in a corner of the northern Sichuan Road in the French Concession in Shanghai, the smell of oil painting pigments remained in the air. Huang Yifan packed up his last suitcase, his pace was not as gentle as usual. The sycamore tree on the street has just been pumping new leaves. She turned her eyes to the complex world without saying a word. It seems that this scene itself is intriguing enough.
This year, she was thirty-one years old and was already the mother of two children. Everything seems natural, a wealthy family, a family and a marriage, and the husband's family is a famous Zhang family. In the eyes of outsiders - she never complains about her life. But only a very few people understand that this woman, who was born after the Yangtze River Navy Admiral, was actually always full of energy. That power has a long history, but it has nothing to do with the family genealogy and teachings.
Huang Yifan's grandfather Huang Yisheng once led the navy of seven provinces, but the admonitions in the tribe's central hall were too far apart from reality. The family's reputation failed to drive away the shackles of feudal etiquette for her. There were very few women who could study abroad at that time. She just couldn't stop.
Zhang Tingzhong is Li Hongzhang's grandson. Before marriage, she thought that love could resolve the estrangement. But within a few years, my husband's life became increasingly alienated. Smoke rolls and late nights have gradually become the norm. The old patriarchal law is always echoed in the halls of the Zhang family, without much words. She convinced herself many times, but she couldn't cope with the "submissive" daily life.
The family only thinks she is willful. Actually—it’s not just willful. Her Western-style educational experience made her understand that the world outside is much more interesting than home. Before leaving, she and Zhang Tingzhong's sister Zhang Maoyuan made an agreement to study abroad. It was a self-changing voyage. A mother is the backer of her children. But Huang Yifan is the backer for his own world.
Later, in the summer of 1925, Huang Yifan stepped outside Shanghai for the first time, and she did not look back. The air in Paris is mixed with noise and freedom. She entered the Paris Academy of Fine Arts, and every day from morning to dusk, the paintbrushes are all colors that she has never seen before. With short French hair and a tall figure, the bystanders may just be amazed at her chatting and laughing in the social scene - but only a few heard her sigh in the middle of the night.
As a word, my sister-in-law Zhang Maoyuan later studied in France for several years and became a well-known educator. Bystanders later learned the details of this matter. At that time, the two sisters were skiing in Switzerland. Huang Yifan obviously had her feet wrapped around her, but she was faster and more stable than foreign girls. Zhang Maoyuan always laughed at her and wanted to do everything that "should not be" beautifully.
She is not a simple rebellion. At that time, most Chinese women's freedom was talked about on paper. She really traveled between reality and dreams, and even sold the antiques handed down from her home and bought a new travel ticket for herself. Every time she sells an old item, she will be stunned for a while and it takes a long time to speak. These details are unknown, only the financial difficulties and the hardships of her life.
Eileen Zhang once wrote in her memoir that when she was a child, she rarely cried when she saw her mother, which was more of an indescribable sense of loneliness. Occasionally, when they meet again, the mother and daughter look at each other for a long time without much warm words. This kind of restraint and calmness is exactly integrated into Zhang Ailing's later writings. Huang Yifan returned from studying abroad and briefly taught art in Malaysia and also worked as a translator. It may not be exaggerated to say that she is a celebrity in the upper-class circle of Southeast Asia.
She gathered with Hu Shi, Xu Beihong and others to have a painting exhibition. The information conveyed by such gatherings is actually more complicated than the surface. Western thought, freestyle interaction, and women's independence, these concepts are tantamount to challenging instincts in Chinese society at the beginning of the 20th century.
After going down, she always has an invisible pull between going abroad, educating her children and dealing with old things. Every letter from home is cautious and calm. The letter she wrote to Zhang Ailing was brief and the content was mostly related to study and life comfort. The emotional expression is not strong, but the problem is not made. This was the restriction on women in that era, and it was also the protective color of her personal personality.
During the period, she traveled to France and Switzerland, visited Egypt, and finally stayed in Singapore and Malaysia. There are some traces left at each stop. Some people speculate that she has never been able to completely reconcile with her original family. I agree with this guess halfway. The split in her heart is both the factors of the times and the inevitability of personal choices.
But she never let herself be defined. Huang Yifan's freedom is part of the guarantee given by money and identity, and the greater support actually comes from her persistent pursuit of self-worth. This is completely different from those women who have become vassals of the family. She did abandon her marriage, but this kind of "leftover" is essentially an active game rather than a passive suffering.
What exactly does this story mean to Eileen Chang? From the perspective of knowledge, Zhang Ailing was far more influenced by her mother than the outside world said. Her withdrawn and alienation are superior to the Zhang sisters because Huang Yifan sets an example. It seems that there is always an inexplicable glass in the relationship between mother and daughter, but the existence of this piece of glass itself is a symbol of freedom. Later, Ailing's mother was like a ball of lights, but it was so dazzling from afar.
To put it another way, Huang Yifan tried to reunite his family after returning from studying abroad. Unfortunately, the wave of the times swept through their generation. She finally failed to become a good mother in the traditional sense, but because of this, Zhang Ailing has a unique perspective to observe the world. Isn’t this worth thinking about again?
Huang Yifanzhi is called a legend, and it is not because she has broken through many rules. It’s better for her to let “freedom” become a touchable state of life. For Chinese women of that era, she was not the center of the storm, but the driving force behind the undercurrent. Studying overseas, art hiring, and economic independence have all become reality, and are no longer just ideals.
These data have been verified and are very accurate. Relevant study abroad archives, teacher records of Overseas Chinese School in Malaysia, and registration materials of the Paris Academy of Fine Arts are all archived. Her footprints and behavior left traces of verifiable traces. There is only one thing - the details of her personal life, sometimes there are still gaps. A woman should not be demanded of paying everything in a turbulent era.
After experiencing drifting in many countries, Huang Yifan did not pursue the typical fallen leaves to return to his roots in his later years. She continued teaching in the Nanyang studio. There is no sexual statement and no emphasis on autobiographical explanation. Ultimately, what she left to her daughter and her contemporaries was an experiment on how to break through gender barriers.
The tenacity in her body that is free from the cracks is the most difficult experience in the enlightenment history of modern Chinese women. She chose the edge of the world, but was never abandoned by the world. Not all mothers can become the light source of their daughter's life, but some mothers interpret another kind of "fulfilment".
That's all, this story ends here. Huang Yifan's name may still be hidden in the cracks of the heavy family history, but her actions have long penetrated the years. What flowed her was not only the old blood of a family, but also the courage and fearlessness of the new Chinese women in that turbulent era.
Some lives are destined to be unreasonable. Where can there be a real road for true freedom?
