Tang Xianzu

Tang Xianzu, who used the courtesy name Yireng, was a Chinese playwright of the Ming dynasty. He was born in 1550 and died in 1616, and his best-known play is The Peony Pavilion, written in 1598, which remains among the most celebrated works of Chinese theatre. He was a native of Linchuan in Jiangxi, passed the imperial examinations at the age of thirty-four and held low-level official posts, serving as magistrate of Suichang County from 1593 to 1598. He retired to his hometown in 1598 to write and died in 1616, the same year as Shakespeare.