Wang Shifu (A.D. 1260- A.D. 1336) was born in Dingxing County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, mostly in Beijing. A famous zaju writer in Yuan Dynasty, he wrote the zaju The West Chamber.
Wang Shifu is as famous as Guan Hanqing, Bai Pu and Ma Zhiyuan. His works fully inherited the exquisite language art of Tang poetry and Song poetry, absorbed the lively oral language of the people in the Yuan Dynasty, created a brilliant vocabulary of Yuan opera, and became an outstanding representative of the "literary school" in the history of China opera.
Existing manuscripts in Wang Shifu
The Romance of the West Chamber is the manuscript created by Wang Shifu, a famous playwright in Yuan Dynasty, which is called Wang Shifu Draft for short. This manuscript is slightly yellowed and worn out, and it is filled with 2 1 page-wrapping ink (including 2 loose pages). It was originally an old collection of the imperial palace in the early Qing Dynasty, with the seal of "Precious Reward from the Sincere House".
Wang Shifu's calligraphy is natural and fluent, which shows the author's extraordinary calligraphy skills and literary accomplishment. Manuscript jute paper, each half page is 23.2 cm long and 13.8cm wide, including 20 pages (40 faces); The other two pages, written in small print, are quaint and exquisite. They are the only handwriting of Wang Shifu operas found in China at present, and have high literature value and art collection value. They are of milestone significance in the history of China's drama development, and they are rare original Yuanqu at home and abroad.