author of the first Chinese satirical novel, Rulinwaishi (c. 1750; The Scholars).

Wu Jingzi 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 age 32 was forced by poverty to move to Nanjing, where he led a life of drinking and carousing.

Probably about 1740 Wu began work on the semiautobiographical Rulinwaishi, 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 had observed throughout his life.