Ma Zhiyuan (Ma Chih-yüan) °¨P»· (c.1250ˇVc.1321)
He was born in Dadu (present-day Beijing). He was a distinguished poet and playwright in the Yuan dynasty who devoted his life to the writing and study of zaju plays and sanqu poetry. He lived for a time in Hangzhou, where he was an administrator for the JiangsuˇVZhejiang region, before he went into retirement in the countryside. His plays had considerable influence on operas of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Of the fifteen plays he wrote, seven are extant.
Works available in English:
The Sorrows of Han: A Chinese Tragedy (John Francis Davis). London: A.J.
Valpy, 1829; Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1997.
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