Leslie T. Chang
張彤禾
Born
New York, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHarvard University
OccupationJournalist
SpousePeter Hessler
Parent(s)Leroy Chang, Helen Chang

Leslie T. Chang (Chinese: 張彤禾; pinyin: Zhāng Tónghé) is a Chinese-American journalist and the author of Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China (2008). A former China correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, she has been described as "an insightful interpreter of a society in flux."[1]

Early life

Chang was born in New York, United States. Chang's father was Leroy L. Chang, a physicist, researcher, professor, and Dean of Science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Chang was raised outside of New York City, New York.[2][3]

Her grandfather, Zhang Shenfu, a mining engineer who'd studied in the U.S. and then worked for the Kuomintang government, was bayoneted to death in 1946 by Communist soldiers.[4]

Education

In 1991, Chang earned a degree in American history and literature from Harvard University.[2][5][6]

Published books

In 2004 as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Chang visited Dongguan, Guangdong province, China.[3]

Factory Girls

In response to the negative press surrounding occupational safety and health in Chinese factories. Chang decided to explore the subject from the perspective of the workers. In 2004 she traveled to the South Central China factory city of Dongguan to document the lives of Wu Chunming and Lu Qingmin, two migrant workers who were born to poor farming families. The book follows their lives over three years and also includes the author's own family history of migration within China and to the West.[7]

Factory Girls was named by the New York Times as one of 100 Notable Books in 2008[8] and also received the 2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction[9] and the Asian American Literary Award for nonfiction.[10]

Factory Girls Updated Post Financial Crisis

In 2010 Chang published Factory Girls Updated Post Financial Crisis. The author observed that the 2007–2008 financial crisis has led to a business slowdown in Dongguan and that the home villages of workers have provided a safety valve with some workers even taking up a job outside Dongguan.[11]

Personal life

Chang's husband is Peter Hessler, an author.[12][3]

Awards and honors

See also

References

  1. ↑ "China's New Working Class". The Washington Post. October 22, 2008. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Leslie T. Chang". goodreads.com. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Interview: Leslie T. Chang". December 12, 2008. Archived from the original on May 20, 2010. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  4. ↑ Hessler, Peter. "Letter from Chengdu". The New Yorker.com. Condé Nast. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "Leslie T. Chang". Penguinrandomhouse.ca. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Montage - Working Sisters". Harvardmagazine.com. February 2009. Retrieved December 7, 2018.(class of 1991)
  7. ↑ French, Howard W (21 October 2008). "Books of The Times: Dynamic Young Engines Driving China's Epic Boom". The New York Times. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  8. ↑ "100 Notable Books of 2008". The New York Times. November 26, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  9. ↑ PEN Center USA 2009 Literary Awards Archived April 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Page Turner - The Asian American Literary Festival: Awards Archived 2010-10-27 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Leslie T. Chang (2010). Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9780330506472.
  12. ↑ Author Spotlight, Random House
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