Mei'an Daoren is the author of Si Qiao Shuo (Four Clever Discourses). Beyond this, his real name, dates of birth and death, native place, and life story have not been clearly recorded, and the available public information is very limited. The sobriquet "Daoren," meaning a Daoist or a person of Daoist inclinations, carries the flavor of a traditional literatus's self-chosen name, but it is not enough to infer his identity or experiences. What can be confirmed is that only one work, Si Qiao Shuo, appears under his name, and it is usually classified under Eastern philosophy. On the basis of the existing information, it is difficult to examine the circumstances in which the book was written or how it circulated, nor is it possible to determine whether the author wrote anything else. Readers who wish to understand Mei'an Daoren's thought can only approach it indirectly through the narrative manner, argumentative orientation, and language style of Si Qiao Shuo itself; further discussion of the author's life must await the discovery of new materials and scholarly research.
