WU CHING-TZU

born 1701, Ch'an-chiao, Anhwei province, China died Dec. 12, 1754, Yang-chou, Chiang-nan province Pinyin Wu Jingzi author of the first Chinese satirical novel, Ju-lin wai-shih (c. 1750; The Scholars). Wu Ching-tzu was a member of a scholarly and well-to-do family. He succeeded neither academically nor financially, however, and he was unable or unwilling to pass the higher official examinations. He mismanaged his inheritance and at the age of 32 was forced by poverty to move to Nanking, where he led a life of drinking and carousing. Probably around 1740, Wu Ching-tzu began work on the semiautobiographical Ju-lin wai-shih, completing it about 10 years later. In this picaresque romance, he used sharp and effective satire to attack the corrupt official practices and personalities that he observed throughout his life.