Yang Xiong (author)

Yang Xiong (; 53 BCE18 CE) was a Chinese philosopher, poet, and politician of the Western Han dynasty known for his philosophical writings and ''fu'' poetry compositions.

Life and career

Like a number of the other well-known writers of the Han dynasty, Yang was from Shu (modern Sichuan province), specifically the area of Pi (modern Pi County, Sichuan). Yang claimed that his family had moved south from the state of Jin during its civil infighting in the 6th century BCE. As a youth Yang was an admirer and imitator of his elder Shu compatriot Sima Xiangru and the "grand ''fu''" style of the early Han period. His ability and success in ''fu'' composition earned him a summons to the imperial capital at Chang'an to serve as an "Expectant Official", responsible for composing poems and ''fu'' for the emperor.Ho (1986): 912.

Yang's position required him to praise the virtue and glory of Emperor Cheng of Han and the grandeur of imperial outings, but he was disturbed by the wasteful extravagance of the imperial court. Yang attempted to return the ''fu'' genre to a focus of "suasive admonition" (), which he believed was the original purpose of the earliest ''fu''-type writings of Qu Yuan, but his couched admonitions against extravagance went unnoticed and unheeded by Emperor Cheng.

Yang's most famous work is the '' Fayan'', a philosophical work modeled on the '' Analects'', in which Yang criticizes ''fu'' writers for focusing on ornate, esoteric language while ignoring more important issues of morality. Yang's other works include the '' Taixuanjing'', a divination text based on the '' I Ching'', "Justification Against Ridicule" (), one of the best known examples of the "''fu'' of frustration" subgenre, and the '' Fangyan'', a dictionary documenting regional vocabulary from throughout China at the time.

Together with Sima Xiangru, Yang was one of the most famous and illustrious figures of the entire Han dynasty. The '' Book of Han'' devotes a full two-part chapter to both Yang and Sima, an honor surpassing that of even the most famous generals and ministers.Knechtges (1982): 1.

Philosophy

Yang did not believe human nature was inherently good as Mencius () had written, nor inherently bad as Xunzi () had written, but came into existence as a mixture of both. He was a close associate of the official and philosopher Huan Tan (d. 28 CE), an Old Texts realist who may have heavily influenced the works of Wang Chong (27–c. 100 CE). Yang is also known for his protest against the verbosity of the '' fu''. He was hailed by Huan Tan as the "Confucius from the western parts".

References

Citations

Works cited

* Chen, Keming and Zhang, Shancheng
"Yang Xiong"
'' Encyclopedia of China'' (Philosophy Edition), 1st ed.
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* Zhu, Binjie
"Yang Xiong"
'' Encyclopedia of China'' (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed.

External links

Yang Xiong
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy biography
*

方言: 13卷 (1873 edition)

Full text of Yang Xiong's Fa Yan
(English and Chinese) - Chinese Text Project

Yang Xiong
''Qin Shi Bu'' (琴史補; "Appended History of the Guqin") article

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Xiong
53 BC births
18 deaths
1st-century BC Chinese philosophers
1st-century BC Chinese poets
1st-century Chinese philosophers
1st-century Chinese poets
Han dynasty government officials
Poets from Sichuan
Politicians from Chengdu
Writers from Chengdu
Chinese philologists
Ancient linguists