李汝珍

李汝珍（1763年？─1830年），字松石，号松石道人，直隶顺天大兴（今北京市）人。清代文人，小说《镜花缘》为其代表作。

他的一生大约经历了清乾隆、嘉庆、道光三朝，但考场不得意。乾隆四十七年壬寅（1782年），十九岁随兄盐课司大使李汝璜到海州板浦（今江苏连云港海州区板浦镇）等地，师事凌廷堪，结识许乔林、许桂林、吴振勃等。后因水患捐官得县丞一职。李汝珍是道地的文人，“于学无所不窥，尤通音韵”，精通文学、诗词、音韵、经学、字学、医学、算数、茶经、棋谱，还“旁及杂流”，如象纬、篆隶等。

嘉庆二十三年（1818年）写成《镜花缘》，花了近二十年心血，三易其稿，原拟写二百回，只完成一百回。旅美学人夏志清评论此书几乎没有前后文矛盾之处。另著有《李氏音鉴》、《字母五声图》、《受子谱》等。

今连云港板浦镇东大街，有“李汝珍纪念馆”。

Li Ruzhen, formerly romanized as Li Ju-chen (Chinese: 李汝珍; c. 1763 - 1830), courtesy name Songshi (松石), art name Songshi Daoren (松石道人), was a Chinese novelist and phonologist of the Qing dynasty. A native of Beijing, he was the author of the novel Jing Hua Yuan (鏡花緣), or Flowers in the Mirror. He also wrote Lishi Yinjian (李氏音鑑), a work of Chinese phonology, and complied Shou Zi Pu (受子譜), a valuable kifu of Go.

Flowers in the Mirror (completed in 1827) is a novel of fantasy and erudition in 100 chapters. In the first half of the novel, the protagonist, like Gulliver, travels to strange lands, reminiscent of what are mentioned in Shan Hai Jing. The second half of the novel is a display of Li's erudition, and reads more like an encyclopedia than a novel.

The Lishi Yinjian, in the line of the rime table tradition, comprises syllable charts which are both innovative and confusing. Like Li's novel, it is a work of erudition, quoting from more than 400 works. It is valuable for its recording of the phonological system of the then-Beijing dialect.

From a young age he had a rebellious nature. He strongly disagreed with the fixed style of composition (eight-legged essay) that people were required to learn in order to pass the examination needed to obtain a higher rank. Therefore, after obtaining the degree of xiucai (licentiate, the lowest in the examination hierarchy), he became a low-ranking officer, which was not considered respectable. However, his position did not mean that he was idle; he was a polymath, with expertise in astrology, medicine, mathematics, music, rhetoric, poetry, calligraphy and painting. His knowledge in all these subjects is amply reflected in Flowers in the Mirror, sometimes even to the hindrance of the plot.