When Zhang Chonghe was born, it was an accident for the Zhang family. After all, there were already three girls in front of him. Needless to say, everyone was thinking about how to have a boy this time. As a result, the family saw another girl and stopped talking for a while, which was a bit too unexpected and a bit disappointing. As a niece of Li Hongzhang, her great-aunt had no children, so she adopted Zhang Chonghe to her great-aunt, who treated Zhang Chonghe as her own, took good care of her, and gave her the best teacher, archaeologist Zhu Moqin, to teach her.
Zhu Moqin's teaching is extremely rigorous. She studies in the study from 8: am to 5: pm every day, leaving only one hour for dinner and half a day's rest every 1 days. Such hard study has laid a deep foundation for Zhang Chonghe's Chinese studies, and she has also been exposed to excellent ancient folk literature works such as Peony Pavilion, The Story of Purple Hairpin and Peach Blossom Fan.
After the age of 16, her great-aunt died, and Zhang Chonghe was taken back to her parents' home in Suzhou. Here, Zhang Chonghe and her sisters also came into contact with Kunqu opera and became her lifelong hobby. Unlike her sisters, Zhang Chonghe developed the habit of practicing calligraphy, and her calligraphy was very good. Dong Qiao, a famous writer, once commented: "Zhang Chonghe's writing brush is beautiful and can be used for drinking."
After the Anti-Japanese War, with the help of his third brother-in-law, Shen Congwen, Zhang Chonghe was able to teach calligraphy and Kunqu in Peking University. Zhang Chonghe, a beautiful woman with both talents and looks, had numerous suitors at that time, including the famous poet Bian Zhilin. It is said that the song "You watch the scenery on the bridge, and the people watching the scenery are watching you upstairs.". The bright moon decorated your window, and you decorated other people's dreams. " It was the poet who wrote it to Zhang Chonghe.
She has profound attainments in calligraphy, Kunqu opera and poetry. As early as the 193s, she taught at Peking University, and her calligraphy and painting enjoyed a good reputation. Her calligraphy is well-prepared, and she is known as "the first person in modern lower case letters" because of her beautiful and condensed lower case letters, deep structure and profound bone strength. Her name is linked with the names of Yu Zhenfei and Mei Lanfang in various published Kunqu Atlas. In 1943, a Kunqu Opera "Dream in the Garden" staged in BLACKPINK, Chongqing, once caused a sensation in Xingtan Wenyuan in the rear area, and Zhang Shizhao, Shen Yinmo and others sang poems in succession, which became a cultural event during the Anti-Japanese War.
Later, under the introduction of Shen Congwen, I met Hans Hermannt Frankel, a foreign sinologist at Peking University, and got married in November 1948. In 1949, Zhang Chonghe and Hans Hermannt Frankel went to the United States by ship, and Zhang Chonghe took with her a few clothes, that is, pen and ink and a box of Gu Mo with a history of nearly 5 years, which were her most cherished things.
In the United States, Hans Hermannt Frankel couldn't find a job to make money while studying for his doctorate. Zhang Chonghe shouldered the financial burden of his family alone, and later he had to sell his favorite Gu Mo. Although the husband and wife are hard, they still regard Qi Mei as an example and treat each other as guests. In 215, Zhang Chonghe died at the age of 12. She lived a colorful and poetic life.