Zang Maoxun

As often pointed out the political problems in the society in the way of poetry at the moment, he was impeached by the imperial court and dismissed from office in 1585 (the 13th year of Wanli).

In 1580, Wanli 8 (万历八年), Zang Maoxun attended the Imperial examination, and was qualified and ranked as Jinshi.

In 1582 Wanli 10 (万历十年), Zang served as a magistrate in Yiling, which is located in modern-day Yichang County of Hubei province.

Later, when he was an officer in Guozijian (国子监) of Nanjing, he maintained a friendly relationship with Tang Xianzu (汤显祖) and Wang Shizhen (王世贞).

In 1585 Wanli 13 (万历十三年), at the age of 36, Zang Maoxun was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown Changxing after a homosexual liaison with one of his students.

[9] Living in his hometown, Zang Maoxun entertained himself with poetry and kept a close relationship with many men of letters of that time like Mei Dingzuo (梅鼎祚) and Yuan Zhongdao (袁中道).

The first and second chapters of Fubaotang Ji contain seven memorials to the throne and twenty letters, all written in the style of Pianwen (Chinese: 骈文; pinyin: Piánwén).

In ancient Chinese society, the opera was regarded as an unrefined performance for a long time, so he felt his own mission was to select and publish Yuanqu.

He collected all kinds of Yuanqu scattered around the country, and edited them with careful finishing, collating and phonetic notes.

Finally, Zang Maoxun published the Selected plays from the Yuan Dynasty in more than 100 Juan in Wanli 43 and 44.

[16][17] This feat saved for posterity one hundred famous operas, including" Snow in Midsummer " (窦娥冤),[18] "Autumn in the Han Palace" (汉宫秋) and so on.

The scholar Stephen H. West notes that most translations of Yuan drama use the texts edited and "extensively altered" by Zang Maoxun (1550-162).