Ming Gao

Born in Wenzhou, Gao Ming was a Chinese poet and playwright of the late Yuan period. He is often dated to about 1305 and is associated with the courtesy name Gao Zecheng; some catalog records list his death around 1359, while other standard references give about 1370, so the exact year is uncertain.

He served for a time as an official, but later turned away from public life and devoted himself to writing for the theater. His reputation rests mainly on Pipa ji (The Lute), a southern drama that became one of the best-known works in Chinese literature.

That play, centered on loyalty, sacrifice, and family obligation, was admired far beyond Gao Ming's own lifetime and became a model for later Ming drama. Even though only one major work securely survives under his name, it was enough to make him one of the most remembered playwrights of premodern China.