Guan Hanqing

Guan Hanqing (about 1241 to 1320) was a Chinese dramatist, playwright and poet of the Yuan dynasty, who used the art names Yizhai and Yizhaisou. He is described as among the most prolific and highly regarded dramatists of the Yuan period and as the most productive and creative playwright of the northern plays. He is credited with 68 plays, of which 18 survive, three of them in fragments, written mostly in the vernacular of his time, and he is also said to have been a master of songs, with 57 short songs and 14 song suites surviving. Jia Zhongming called him the leader of the Pear Garden. He spent much of his later life in Dadu and Hangzhou. One of his most popular plays is The Injustice to Dou E, also known as Snow in Midsummer, and he is celebrated for his portrayal of the downtrodden.