Tang Xianzu

Tang Xianzu, a native of Linchuan, was a great dramatist of Ming Dynasty. He was compared as the “Easter Shakespeare”. His four masterpiece dramas were called “Four Dreams of Linchuan”, in which he presented his thoughts on human nature and on the meaning of life. In The Peony Pavilion and The Purple Hairpins, he praised women’s longing for love, which is forbidden in the feudal society. In The Handan Dreams and A Dream under the Southern Bough he depicted the ups and downs of officials and exposed the social darkness of the time.