Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 (born ca. 1315, died ca. 1400), míng Běn 本, hào Húhǎi Sǎnrén 湖海散人 (“Wanderer of Lakes and Seas”), is the conventional attributed author of several of the most important Chinese vernacular historical novels. His native place is disputed: traditional sources variously give Tàiyuán 太原 (Shanxi) or Qiantang 錢塘 (Hangzhou); the Lùguǐ bù 錄鬼簿 (a Yuan-era catalogue of dramatic writers) records him as a native of Tàiyuán and a disciple of the playwright Shī Huì 施惠. He is said to have lived through the turbulent final decades of the Yuan and the founding of the Ming, possibly having participated in one of the peasant rebel movements of the era.
Luó is most securely associated with the Sānguó Yǎnyì 三國演義 KR4k0063 (earliest printed edition 1522), widely considered the first fully developed Chinese historical novel. He is also credited, with varying degrees of certainty, as author or co-author of the Shuǐhǔ Quánzhuàn 水滸全傳 KR4k0066, the Sānsuì Pínyāo Zhuàn 三遂平妖傳 KR4k0061, the Suí Táng Yěshǐ 隋唐野史 KR4k0067, and the Wǔdài Mìshǐ 五代秘史 KR4k0069. Modern scholarship is cautious about accepting all of these attributions without reservation, particularly for the Shuǐhǔ (where the primary attribution is to Shī Nài’ān 施耐庵) and the minor historical novels. CBDB records an entry (CBDB id 690980) for Luó Guànzhōng but without birth or death years.