Mei Dingzuo () (1549-1615) was a Chinese writer and playwright. He was described by a contemporary drama reviewer as being "an outstanding and talented descendant of a distinguished family..."

Life

He was born in

Xuancheng Xuancheng () is a city in the southeast of Anhui province. Archeological digs suggest that the city has been settled for over 4,000 years, and has been under formal administration since the Qin dynasty. Located in the lower Yangtze River drainage ...

. Mei's family consisted of

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

s and owned a large

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

of their own. Mei was friends with

Tang Xianzu Tang Xianzu (; September 24, 1550 – July 29, 1616), courtesy name Yireng (), was a Chinese playwright of the Ming Dynasty. Biography Tang was a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi and his career as an official consisted principally of low-level ...

Wang Shizhen Wang Shizhen is the name of: *Wang Shizhen (Tang dynasty) (759–809), Tang dynasty warlord, de facto ruler of Chengde * Wang Shizhen (Ming dynasty) (1526–1590), Ming dynasty poet, writer, artist and litterateur. *Wang Shizhen (Beiyang government ...

, and Wang Daokun. His teacher was Jiang Qifang. Mei collected books. He would meet with his friends to share books they recently acquired. He failed

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

s and became a full-time writer. Mei's hired his own workers to create woodblocks for his books. He also published his books himself.

Legacy

Works by Mei are held in the

National Central Library The National Central Library (NCL; ) is the national library of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), which is located at No. 20, Zhongshan S. Rd., Zhongzheng District, Taipei City 10001, Taiwan. It will soon have a subsidiary called Southe ...

Works

*''Chang ming lü ji'' (''Story of the Longevity Threads'') *''Kunlun nu'' (''Kunlun Slave'') *''Yu he ji'' (''Story of the Jade Box'')

References

{{authority control 1549 births 1615 deaths 16th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights 17th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights