Ma Zhiyuan

Also known as Zi Qianli · Hao Dongli

Ma Zhiyuan, styled Dongli, came from Dadu (modern Beijing). Zhong Sicheng's *Register of Ghosts* (*Lu gui bu*) says he served as an official of the Jiangzhe provincial administration and lists more than ten plays by him, of which six survive, among them *Autumn in the Han Palace* (*Hangong qiu*) and *Tears on the Blue Gown* (*Qingshan lei*), besides *Yellow Millet Dream* (*Huangliang meng*), written with Li Shizhong and others. *Autumn in the Han Palace*, his best-known drama, dramatizes the parting of Emperor Yuan of Han from Wang Zhaojun. Modern editors collected his songs as *Dongli Songs* (*Dongli yuefu*); they include the short lyric *Autumn Thoughts* to the tune *Tian jing sha*, a picture of a traveller at dusk, and a song suite on the same theme that Zhou Deqing's *Rhymes of the Central Plain* (*Zhongyuan yinyun*) judged one in ten thousand. In the early Ming, Zhu Quan's *Formulary of Correct Sounds for an Era of Great Peace* (*Taihe zhengyin pu*) ranked him first among Yuan dramatists.