IN the modern history of China, Shanghai has always been the centre of fashion, with its almost miraculous hectic lifestyle. A large number of graceful and courteous locals from the "genteel" classes used to put on numerous minor comedies or tragedies in this Vanity Fair.

Their words, their clothing, their hobbies, their deeds and in general, their way of living have reflected the uniqueness of Shanghai culture. A number of writers with the talent required to accurately depict the peculiarities of this city have emerged, including such successful story-tellers as Chen Naishan.

Chen was born in Shanghai in 1946. In 1949, her family moved to Hong Kong, but they returned to Shanghai in the mid-1950s. Chen then lived in Shanghai for almost 40 years. In 1983, she became a member of the Shanghai Association of Writers. In 1990, she returned to Hong Kong once again and has lived there until the present day.

As the granddaughter of a former bank manager, Chen was familiar with the lifestyle of the "upper-class" of old Shanghai - when she was still a child. As a native writer who still held a quite positive attitude towards the materialism of old Shanghai, her works always presented shining examples of the former lifestyle. Due to her acquaintance with the anecdotes of the so-called upper-class in old Shanghai, her works often brought unexpected surprises, as if allowing readers to peep through into the other side of how life was lived in the city.

In her novel "Financier", she took her grandfather as the model for the hero and delicately described the lives, dreams, desires and sufferings of well-educated genteel ladies and gentlemen. Compared with other novels which focused on the same area, Chen's novel was much more interesting because she has directly experienced what the characters of the novels tasted. Chen's reliability as a witness and her good technique in telling her stories made her work stand out impressively among many similar novels.

Having a special nostalgia for old Shanghai, Chen preferred to choose the better side of the city as the background for her works. Far from emphasizing the difference between the "upper" and "lower" classes in her novels, Chen's works focused on the good side of old Shanghai -- a city of conspicuous consumption, a city of fashion, a city of modernity and a city without tears. Thus her works have become controversial, but they also help their readers to understand that old Shanghai had its positive side.