Lü Tiancheng (; 15801618) was a Chinese playwright and poet active during the late

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

Career

Lü is widely believed to be the author of the erotic novel '' Xiuta yeshi'' () or ''The Embroidered Couch'', which he reportedly wrote as a teenager. According to his friend and a contemporary drama critic, Wang Jide (), Lü also wrote another romantic novel titled ''Xianqing biezhuan'' () "for fun". Having adapted several dramas including '' Romance of the Western Chamber'' and ''Story of a White Rabbit'', Lü himself was also a drama critic. His seminal 1613 work '' Qu Pin'' () or ''Opera Studies'' comprises some ninety biographies of playwrights, alongside commentaries on notable plays from the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

to the Ming dynasty; according to the ''Historical Dictionary of Chinese Theater'', ''Qu Pin'' is "one of the most influential books on the variety opera, the Southern opera, the legend, and the Kun opera."

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lü, Tiancheng 1580 births 1618 deaths 16th-century Chinese poets 16th-century Chinese male writers 17th-century Chinese writers