Li Kaixian (, 1502 - 1568) was a Chinese writer, playwright and literary critic of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

from

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. He was retired from the government at age 39, and then devoted his life to literature and

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

. He was a member of the circle of intellectuals gathered folk songs and ballads. His first play ''Sword'' was a '' chuanqi'' play. The play is based on the plot of the novel ''

Water Margin ''Water Margin'' (), also called ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' or ''All Men Are Brothers'', is a Chinese novel from the Ming dynasty that is one of the preeminent Classic Chinese Novels. Attributed to Shi Nai'an, ''Water Margin'' was one of the e ...

'', but the story of

Lin Chong Lin Chong is a fictional character in ''Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Panther Head", he ranks sixth among the 36 Heavenly Spirits. In some folk tales derived from the novel, he is said ...

had been changed.

Early life

Li Kaixian's mother, surname Wang (), was the daughter of a wealthy family from Xinjie, who married his father at age 19. His father failed the provincial examination several times before eventually passing and going to the capital for the national examination. Li Kaixian received the degree of

jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...

, the highest award for imperial examinations, and then entered the Ministry of Revenue.

Career

In the late 1550s, Li Kaixian became interested in printing Yuan-dynasty qu, including

sanqu ''Sanqu'' () is a fixed-rhythm form of Classical Chinese poetry or "literary song".Crump (1990), 125 Specifically ''sanqu'' is a subtype of the '' qu'' formal type of poetry. ''Sanqu'' was a notable Chinese poetic form, possibly beginning in th ...

and dramas. His publishing was complimented by his personal libraries of over 10,000 volumes, known as the "Library of Ten Thousand Fascicles". He also printed a number of plays in an anthology, Revised Plays by Yuan Masters (). Despite the anthology's importance, the whereabouts of the collection was unknown into the 20th century. It was believed to be in Taiwan, until it was revealed in 2001 that the existing edition is kept in

Nanjing Library Nanjing Library () is the third-largest library in China with over 10 million items. It houses important scientific, cultural and arts literature relating to Jiangsu province and other national historical records such as ancient Chinese and foreig ...

. Although the surviving edition of the anthology preserves only 6 plays, the preface states that Li Kaixian intended to print 16. Li Kaixian also stated that he was the sponsor of the project and provided texts from his own personal collection, with assistance from his disciple Zhang Zishen, a native of Shanghe known for his expertise in northern qu, and Gao Yingqi (). Following the printing of the anthology, Li Kaixian continued printing suites of songs and ''xiaoling'' (); in 1566 and 1567 he printed collections by Yuan masters Zhang Keiju () and Qiao Ji, respectively.

References

Ming dynasty writers 1502 births 1568 deaths 16th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights {{China-writer-stub