Ding Ling (1904-1986), also spelled Ting Ling, was the pen name of Jiang Bingzhi, or Chiang Wei-chi, one of modern China's most popular and controversial writers. Influenced by Western literature and anarchic and left-wing politics, Ding Ling wrote partly autobiographical short stories. In these stories, she created a new type of Chinese heroine. She portraying the lonely lives of unconventional, unfulfilled women who were nevertheless independent and passionate. By 1930, she had complete three collections of stories as well as a short novel.