Born at the end of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) or the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) in Dadu (called Beijing today). Guan Hanqing has been and still is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in the history of Chinese literature and theater development.

Smart and humorous. handsome and erudite. Guan Hanqing was good in many areas including poems. music. dancing. chess. and hunting. He lived in Dadu -- the capital of the Yuan Dynasty -- and for a time worked in the Loyal Hospital. However. he had little interest in medical research. but instead was very enthusiastic about writing plays.

Mixed Opera with rich content was popular with both the noble class and the ordinary people in the Yuan Dynasty. However. Guan`s major purpose was to encourage the latter rather than entertain the former.

In the Yuan period. the common people lived a miserable life due to the authoritarian rule of corrupt officials as well as disruption from frequent social riots. A lot of people were wrongly put into prison. Sympathetic with them. Guan Hanqing resigned from his court position to spend more time on familiarizing himself with the people at the grassroots level and produce more plays to disclose the dark side of the society.

Understanding the gloomy life the people were living as well as various dialects they were speaking. Guan Hanqing succeeded in producing lively plays. In addition to mirroring the depressing reality. his works were full of combative spirit. crying for rights for the oppressed.

He produced a lot of successful female characters with different personalities. including Dou`e. Du Ruiniang. a prostitute named Wang Ruilan. a widow named Tan Ji`er. and a servant girl named Yanyan. The majority of these characters had humble origins and were constantly insulted and prosecuted by the noble class.

In his plays. Guan Hanqing depicted a vivid picture of their tragic life from which their integrity. goodness. brightness. and tactfulness were clearly revealed. Meanwhile. he thought highly of their persistence and heroic actions in fighting for themselves against their enemies.

Providing a story about the tragic experience a young girl named Dou`e encountered. the Mixed Opera titled Dou`e Injustice has been popular for hundreds of years and has got a global reach with different language versions.

As a leading figure in the theater community. Guan Hanqing was a productive writer with 67 Mixed Operas among which 18 can be found today. No one else among the ancient Chinese playwrights could be labeled as his rival in producing such a large number of successful characters with sophisticated psychological depiction.

Guan Hanqing was honored as the top one among the four well-known writers of Yuan Opera. In 1958. activities commemorating the 700th anniversary of Guan Hanqing`s Works were held both at home and abroad. On June 28 of the same year. his plays. in at least 100 forms. were put onto the stage at the same time across China by 1.500 professional troupes. His works have also been translated into English. French. German. Japanese. and so on.

As a prominent play producer. Guan Hanqing is honored as ``the forefather of Mixed Opera in the Yuan Dynasty`` at home and enjoys a worldwide reputation of ``the Oriental Shakespeare. ``