The Impoverished Couple is a short story by Zhang Ziping that portrays the harsh social realities faced by an impoverished professor in Republican-era China. Struggling to survive on a meager salary, the professor brings his wife and children from the countryside to live with him, only to find himself unable to support the family. After his wife gives birth to their second child and is hospitalized from exhaustion and illness, the family's situation deteriorates into even deeper misery.
