Lao She (pen name: Lao She, Lau Shaw, Lao Shaw, 老舍; courtesy name in pinyin: Shu, Sheyu; Wade-Giles: Shu, Sheh-yu, Shu, S. Y.; Chinese: 舒舍予; original name in pinyin: Shu, Qingchun; Wade-Giles: Shu, Ch'ing Ch'un; traditional Chinese: 舒慶春; simplified Chinese: 舒庆春) was born to a Manchu family in Beijing, 1899. He attended the Beijing Normal University and graduated in 1918. From 1918 to 1924, he was an educator and administrator in various schools in Beijing and Tianjin. He was highly influenced by the May Fourth Movement in 1919 and later motivated to become a writer. In the fall of 1924, he began teaching Chinese at the London University School of Oriental Studies. After returning to China in 1930, he taught in universities in Jinan and Qingdao province. In 1938, Lao She was nominated as the President of the All-China Resistance Association of Writers and Artists, a cultural organization united against Japanese invasion during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1946, he accepted the State Department's invitation to travel to America. During his stay in New York, he wrote a number of novels and published them in English. After returning to China at the end of 1949, he focused on his writing career and produced a number of well-known plays such as Dragon Beard Ditch and Teahouse. He was also the Chairman of the Peking Association of Artists. He died in Beijing, 1966, at the age of 67. Lao She was known as one of the significant contemporary Chinese novelists and playwrights. His most popular works include the novel Rickshaw Boy, Yellow Storm, and the play Teahouse. Other important works are Mr.Ma and Son, Drum Singers, Divorce, Yellow Storm, Cat Country, etc.

Henriette Herz was Lao She's literary agent before 1948, and from 1948, David D. Lloyd was Lao She's literary agent. He was also the literary representative for Pearl S. Buck.