Yuan Zhen
Song Geng (C: 宋 耕, P: "Sòng Gēng"), author of "The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture", wrote that this was one of three Tang Dynasty works that were "particularly influential in the development of the "caizi-jiaren" model". There is a poem by Yuan Zhen, "The Ballad of Li Wa," that is a companion to the novel.