From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Cao Yu (September 24, 1910—December 13, 1996), born as Wan Jiabao, was a renowned Chinese playwright, often regarded as China's most important of the 20th century. His most well-known works are Thunderstorm (1933), Sunrise (1936) and Peking Man (1940). It is largely through the efforts of Cao Yu that the modern Chinese "spoken theater" took root in 20th-century Chinese literature. Description above from the Wikipedia article Cao Yu, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.