吴梅

Wu Mei was a modern Chinese scholar of classical ci poetry and traditional opera, though publicly available information about him is limited and biographical details remain to be verified. Judging from the seven works held in the collection, his writing spans two main fields: ci studies and opera. He produced systematic treatments of ci prosody and composition, such as General Principles of Ci Studies, How to Write Ci, and Wu Mei on Ci Studies, as well as a specialized study of opera's origins and theory, Random Talks on Opera: An Introduction to Chinese Opera. The collection also includes Three Kinds of Early Peking University Lectures on Literary History and The Shuangya Ci Collection. His writing is marked by clear scholarship and orderly exposition, with attention to prosody and close textual analysis; he often blends his own creative experience into theoretical discussion, making the works accessible to beginners while useful to specialists. These books remain important references for understanding traditional ci and opera and continue to influence literary appreciation and teaching.