Dǒng Qíchāng 董其昌 (1555–1636), zì Yuánzǎi 元宰 (also written 玄宰), hào Sībái 思白, Xiāngguāng jūshì 香光居士; posthumous title Wénmǐn 文敏. Native of Huátíng 華亭 (Sōngjiāng prefecture, modern Shànghǎi). Jìnshì of Wànlì 17 / jǐchǒu (1589); appointed shùjíshì (Hanlin bachelor). Rose through the Zhānshì fǔ (Office of Imperial Tutors) to Lǐbù shàngshū (Minister of Rites), with the additional honorific Tàizǐ tàibǎo. Biography in Míng shǐ · Wényuàn zhuàn.
Dǒng is by far the most influential Chinese art theorist of the 17th century — the architect of the nán běi èr zōng (Southern–Northern Two Schools) periodization of literati painting and the dominant calligrapher of the late Míng. His chief theoretical writings are gathered in the Huàchán shì suíbǐ 畫禪室隨筆 (KR3j0158); his collected literary writings are the Róngtái jí 容臺集 (which the Sìkù editors recorded in their cún mù). He was also a major art collector and connoisseur. His career was politically and socially controversial — the 1616 mín chāo Dǒng huàn (Citizens’ Sacking of Dǒng) riots against his household at Huátíng are documented in the MíngQīng historical record and discussed at length in modern scholarship (Wai-kam Ho, The Century of Tung Ch’i-ch’ang).