This essay attempts to present the frame of children’s tales as an additional perspective for reading ZHANG Ailing. Most characters in ZHANG Ailing’s stories show conflicts in Oedipal complex of pre-adolescence period

and that is because they are not significantly different from characters in traditional children’s tales

which capture the growing process of children. As many of those in traditional children’s tales

characters in ZHANG Ailing’s stories openly reveal their desire

and the desire mostly unfolds in the frame of Oedipal conflicts set in their family. Mothers in children’s tales often appear in the image of a vicious witch

and that is a strategy in children’s literature of expurgating the "bad mother" to preserve only the "good mother." "Bad mother

" which is one of the significant characteristics in ZHANG Ailing’s stories

shares the same function as those in the frame of children’s tales. It is arguable that the truly reliable "mother" for ZHANG Ailing is Shanghai. ZHANG Ailing’s stories often feature a fantastic space where characters can be saved from savage reality

and Hong Kong may be considered a representative space as such.