汤显祖(1550一1616)，籍江西临川，明代戏剧作家，诗人。博学才高，意气慷慨。万历朝任太常寺博士，礼部主事。因上疏直谏，触怒皇帝，外放岭南，仕途失意，遂辞官回乡，困居“玉茗堂”创作、导演戏曲二十年。有《汤显祖全

编》传世。

Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), whose native place was Linchuan, Jiangxi Province, was a dramatist and poet in Ming Dynasty. He was knowledgeable and brilliant, with impassioned spirit. He once held the post of Learned Scholar of the Taichang Temple and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Rites in the Wanli era. Because of his frank admonishment, he enraged the emperor, was sent to south of the Five Ridges. As his official career was frustrated, he resigned official post and returned home, indigently dwelled in “Yu Ming Tang” creating & directing drama for twenty years. His works Tang Xianzu Complete Collection was handed down.汤显祖崇尚真性情，注重戏剧的“名教”功能。紫钗记、牡丹亭、邯郸记、南柯记，谓为“临川四梦”，是其代表作。移情入戏，凄美神奇，永隽之趣，如赵璧隋珠。同期，英吉利戏剧家莎士比亚(1564一1616)所作剧本《哈姆雷特》、《奧赛罗》、《李尔王》、《麦克白》四大悲剧。东西辉映，举世闻名。

Tang Xianzu advocated true nature, regarded the “Confucianism” function of drama. The Purple Hairpin, Peony Pavilion, Handan Dream, and Nanke Dream, which were called “Four Dreams of Linchuan”, were his magnum opus. His works were, with emotion transferred into drama, pathos &magical, interesting forever, similar to the jade of the He family and Sui Hou beads. In the same period, English dramatist Shakespeare (1564-1616) created the Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, which were called “Four Great Tragedies”. The east and west reflected each other, they were world-famous.

2016年学界集会隆重纪念汤显祖、莎士比亚逝世400周年，赞颂二位为“并世双星”、“曲坛伟人”。   

In 2016, academic circles gathered to ceremoniously commemorate the 400^th anniversary of the death of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, and praised them as “Contemporaneous Two Stars”, “Giants of Drama Field”.