ASIA324 Literature of Hong Kong – Creative Project
Tattoos from The Ashes: A Creative Response to Eileen Chang’s “From the Ashes”
By Lawrence Liu, Elisha Ng, Angela Ngan, Lois Sew, Andrew Tan
“Our project was inspired by Eileen Chang’s [way of] storytelling in “From the Ashes,” which vividly portrays the impact of war on individuals. We focused on how even small details can shape people’s lives during a difficult time. We aimed to continue this exploration by imagining what happens to the characters after the war, using tattoos as symbols of their experiences. We chose tattoos because they are meaningful and lasting, much like the effects of war on people. We developed stories for each character based on their personalities and how they dealt with the war. […] War is an impactful event that continues to occur in present times. Our team is grateful to say that we have never experienced anything remotely similar to being in a war. As such, we tried our best to put ourselves in the perspectives of the characters that we chose. We wish to emphasize the characters’ resilience during the war and their ability to push themselves to continue living to the best of their ability. We want to highlight the importance of being resilient, strong, and fearless even during the scariest and toughest times.” — Project Rationale