Writers › Writer / Poet
Hong Sheng
Qing playwright from Qiantang, author of The Palace of Eternal Youth, paired with Kong Shangren
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Hong Fangsi · Fangsi · Baiqi · Master Baiqi · Baiqi Qiaoke
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Hong Sheng, courtesy name Fangsi and sobriquet Baiqi, from Qiantang, was born in 1645, a Qing playwright and poet. His chuanqi play The Palace of Eternal Youth tells of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei against the An Lushan rebellion; by his account it took over ten years and three drafts, and was finished in 1688. He is paired with Kong Shangren as South Hong and North Kong. In 1689 he was impeached after the play was staged during mourning for an empress, and lost his Imperial Academy place. In 1704 he fell drunk from a boat at Huzhou and drowned.
Life and times
Dates 1645 - 1704