白朴

Bai Pu is an important playwright in premodern China, with three works held in this collection: Tianlai Ji, Bai Pu Yuanqu Ji, and Qiangtou Mashang. Public information on his courtesy name, native place, dates of birth and death, and life experience is limited, so no speculation is offered here. Judging from the surviving works, his writing spans both sanqu and zaju drama: Tianlai Ji collects his sanqu and lyric pieces, showing his gift for expressing feeling and describing scenery; Bai Pu Yuanqu Ji presents his yuanqu compositions in a concentrated form; and Qiangtou Mashang, taking love and marriage as its subject, builds considerable dramatic tension through its character relationships and plot development. Overall, Bai Pu's works are plain and natural in language, sincere in emotion, and combine literati refinement with lively popular flavor, making them representative of the yuanqu tradition. Their classification here under literary appreciation and Eastern philosophy also indicates that they are rewarding both for literary aesthetics and for reflection on life.