Ruan Dacheng

Ruan Dacheng (c. 1587–1646) was a Chinese dramatist, poet and official during the Ming dynasty. His daughter, Ruan Lizhen, was also a dramatist.

Ruan Dacheng
Traditional Chinese阮大鋮
Simplified Chinese阮大铖
In this Chinese name, the family name is Ruan.

Ruan grew up in Huaining County, Anqing. He became a jinshi in 1616 and began a career as an official. Ruan aligned himself with the faction of the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and, after Wei fell from favour and committed suicide, was removed from office. He then retired to live as a hermit and it is believed that most of his literary production was undertaken during this time.

In 1644, after the fall of Beijing to the invading Manchus, he became an official of the Southern Ming dynasty through the influence of his close friend Ma Shiying. In 1645 he surrendered to the Manchus.[1][2]

After his death he was reviled as a traitor and he is a villain in Kong Shangren's The Peach Blossom Fan.[3]

He was a patron of the garden designer Ji Cheng.

See also

References
  1. Berg, Daria (2007). Reading China [electronic resource]: fiction, history and the dynamics of discourse : essays in honour of professor Glen Dudbridge. BRILL. p. 111. ISBN 978-9004154834.
  2. JR, FREDERIC WAKEMAN (1985). The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China. University of California Press. p. 721. ISBN 9780520048041.
  3. Gernet, Jacques (1996). A History of Chinese Civilization. Cambridge University Press. pp. 448. ISBN 9780521497817.
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