Mid- to late-Táng official and xiǎoshuō writer, zì Zhīqián 之乾 (some sources Zhīgān), of Càizhōu 蔡州 Zhūyáng 朱陽 (modern Hénán). Son of Yuán Zī 袁滋 (749–818), the Dé-zōng-Xiàn-zōng-era grand-councillor and ambassador-extraordinary to the Nánzhào kingdom in Zhēnyuán 10 (794). Jìnshì of the mid-Táng. By Xiántōng 9 (868) he was Hànlín xuéshì and Zhōngshū shěrén; by Qiánfú 1 (874) Lǐbù lángzhōng; eventually rose to Húbù shìláng. His KR3l0112 Gānzé yáo 甘澤謠, composed during the rainy season of 868, is one of the most influential single late-Táng chuánqí collections — the source of the Niè Yǐnniáng, Hóngxiàn, and Yuánguān / Three Lives Stone tales. CBDB id 94193; death-year given as 844 in some CBDB entries (probably a slip; he was still in office in 874).