Students and literature lovers gathered for a vigil at Baptist University in Kowloon Tong last night to pay tribute to writer Eileen Chang. The vigil - part of the university's programme 'Eileen Chang: Literature, Movies and Stage' - pays homage to Chang, who was born in Shanghai in 1920, as a symbol of liberalism and modernity in a China which, at the time she was writing, was still deeply rooted in the traditions of its dynastic past. Her writing focused on the tensions between men and women and, in particular, examined the role of women in the 1930s at a time of great change China.