Jin Shengtan 金聖嘆 (c.1608-1661)

Jin was a prominent literary critic active in late-Ming and early-Qing dynasty. Jin was born in Suzhou and displayed extraordinary intellectual talent at an early age. A litterateur of unrestrained and rebellious nature, Jin had no intention of becoming a government official and devoted himself to literature. In 1661, sympathetic to the suffering of the people, he joined a protest against the appointment of a corrupt official together with other literati and was sentenced to death. He is renowned for his commentaries on two popular literary works, Shuihu Zhuan 水滸傳 [Water margin] and Xixiang Ji 西廂記 [The story of the west wing].

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