Qiao Ji

Qiao Ji (simplified Chinese: 乔吉; traditional Chinese: 喬吉; Wade–Giles: Ch'iao Chi, died 1345) also known as Qiao Jifu (乔吉甫) was a major Chinese dramatist and poet in the Yuan Dynasty. He was originally from Taiyuan in Shanxi, but lived in the West Lake area in Zhejiang province. His courtesy name was Mengfu (梦符) and his pen name was Shenghao Weng (笙鹤翁). Qiao was said to have maintained an aloof and intimidating demeanor, to the point people were in awe of him, according to the Record of Ghosts (录鬼簿. Of his many plays eleven are extant.

Both his plays Jinqian Ji (金钱记) and Yangzhou Meng (扬州梦) reached the pinnacle of notoriety in his day and are still celebrated. His extant sanqu lyric poetry are also numerous. There are 209 xiaoling lyrics exist as well as 11 taoshu suites. All were collected into the Complete Sanqu Poems. In addition his collected works, Qiao Ji Ji, appeared in 1986. An object of the poet's lyrics was a combination of literary elegance and the language of the street. The poet insisted on what was his "six character prescription" which he explained as a lyric poem with a "phoenix head, pig's belly and a leopard tail." The poet tells us that he “wandered for forty years.” He traveled around many of the central and southern areas of China. Qiao's influence on later drama was considerable.