Kong Shangren (K'ung Shang-jen) 1648-1718

A descendant of Confucius, he was born in Qufu, Shandong province and had a distinguished career as a scholar-official. He was also one of the outstanding playwrights of the Qing dynasty's Kangxi period, his fame resting largely on his authorship of The Peach-blossom Fan (1699), a historical chuanqi drama based on events which occurred around the time of the collapse of the Southern Ming. He retired from office shortly after the play appeared and concentrated on writing poetry.

Works available in English:

The Peach Blossom Fan (Chen Shih-Hsiang and Harold Acton, with the
   collaboration of Cyril Birch). Boston: Cheng & Tsui Co., 2000.          close