Tang was a native of and his career as an official consisted principally of low-level positions. He successfully participated in the Provincial examinations at the age of 21 and at the imperial examinations at the age of 34. He held official positions in Nanjing, Zhejiang province, Guangdong province etc.. He retired in 1598 and returned to his hometown where he focused on writing.
His major plays are collectively called the ''Four Dreams'', because of the decisive role dreams play in the plot of each one. All of them are still performed on the Chinese Kun opera stage. Generally considered his masterpiece, the ''Mudan Ting'' is one of two of his works available in print in English, the other being ''Nanke Ji''.
Works
*''The Purple Flute''
*''The Purple Hairpin''
*''The Peony Pavilion''
*''Record of Handen''
*''Record of Southern Bough''
Works available in English
*The Peony Pavilion . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980 Boston
*Tang, Xianzu and Zhang, Guangqian . ''A Dream Under the Southern Bough''. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 7-119-03270-4.
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