Red Rose & White Rose - Eileen Chang

This is my favorite story written by Eileen Chang who was regarded as one of the best Chinese novelists in Chinese literary world. It is this story that inspires the movie "In the Mood for Love". I couldn't find the English translation of the story, so I translated the famous two paragrahs from the story here. I hope my translation is not too bad.

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振保的生命裡有兩個女人，他說的一個是他的白玫瑰，一個是他的紅玫瑰。一個是聖潔的妻，一個是熱烈的情婦──普通人向來是這樣把節烈兩個字分開來講的。

也許每一個男子全都有過這樣的兩個女人，至少兩個。娶了紅玫瑰，久而久之，紅的變了牆上的一抹蚊子血，白的還是"床前明月光"；娶了白玫瑰，白的便是衣 服上沾的一粒飯黏子，紅的卻是心口上一顆硃砂痣。在振保可不是這樣的，他是有始有終的，有條有理的。他整個地是這樣一個最合理想的中國現代人物，縱然他遇 到的事不是盡合理想的，給他自己心問口，口問心，幾下子一調理，也就變得彷彿理想化了，萬物各得其所。

Red Rose, White Rose

There were two women in Cheng-bao’s life. One he referred to as his white rose, and the other one his red rose. One is a chaste wife, the other one is a passionate mistress. – This is where people always use the words virginal and promiscuous to describe the two types.

Men probably all had two women like these in their lives, two the least. If one marries red rose, the red eventually faded into a blood stain on the wall, meanwhile, the white would still be remembered as the pure moonlight of a clear night. If one marries white rose, as time goes, the white became the steam rice on one’s collar; however, the red is like a red birth mark on the heart. Cheng-bao does not think like that. He is someone with principles, with disciplines. His being fits perfectly to what is of an ideal modern Chinese. Although he had encountered imperfections in life, he could always internalize and idealize them, so the world is as perfect as it is.