At critical moments, a single thought can shape a person’s life, even determining whether to stay or leave. What triggers such a decisive thought? Sometimes it is a keen sensitivity to small details that others overlook.

Eileen Chang saw a warning in clothing

Eileen Chang was one of the most respected writers in the Chinese-speaking world. Her works used sharp insight and delicate prose to portray the emotional worlds of men and women, exposing the complexities of human nature.

In 1949, as political power changed hands in China, Chang remained in the country. In 1950, she attended a conference for Shanghai literary and art workers wearing one of her favorite outfits: a deep purple cheongsam with a white open-knit mesh vest over it. In a hall filled with the heavy blues and grays of Zhongshan suits and Lenin suits, she felt as if she had sunk into a swamp, where even her way of breathing had to change.

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