Yang Weizhen (1296–1370; the name also appears as 楊維禎, and 1297 is also given as his birth year) was a Chinese artist of the Yuan dynasty. His courtesy name was Lianfu; he also used the sobriquets Baoyi Laoren, Dongweizi, Tieya, and Tiedi Daoren. His native place is given as Shanyin or Kuaiji, and his ancestral home was Zhuji Zhou. He later lived in Songjiang Prefecture and was buried at Huating.
Life
His family line included Yang Zhen, identified as a fourth-generation ancestor, Yang Wenxiu as great-grandfather, Yang Jing as grandfather, and Yang Hong as father; his mother was Li. His cousin Yang Weihan lived from 1294 to 1351. His wives were Qian, Zheng (the second wife), and Chen (the third wife), and he had a son named Yang Hang.
His examination status was jinshi. His offices included county magistrate (縣尹) at Tiantai, commander of the Qianqing Field (錢清場司令) in Shaoxing Route, a tuiguan (諸路總管府推官) in Jiande Route, and superintendent of the Confucian Learning Directorate (儒學提舉司提舉) in the Jiangxi Circuit Pacification Commission. In 1341, during the Zhizheng era, he served as supervisor of the Four Services (四務提擧) in Hangzhou Route; Ouyang Xuan had recruited him for the post.
His official service was civil; he also worked as a household tutor, at one point declined official service, and was skilled in an unspecified musical instrument. Yang Weizhen was a friend of Ke Jiusi and exchanged verse with Chen Qiao and Guo Yi. His students included Yin Kui, Shentu Heng, Lu Xiong, Ni Zhong, Zhang Xian, Wu Fu, Wang Sui, Zhu Fei, Yu Shan, and Lü Xun. Other students included Dong Zuocai, Zou Yi, Wang Ruyu, Xu Shu, Zhang Xueji, and Tang Zhen.
Yang Weizhen also impeached Wang Yi in a case associated with the epithet 文妖. After his death in 1370, his students petitioned Prefect Lin Gongqing, who selected the site at Ganshan, Xiuzhu Township, Huating County; the coffin was interred on a guihai day in the sixth month of the third year of Hongwu.
Literary and artistic activity
His literary activity ranged from verse exchanges to prefaces, epitaphs, biographies, Buddhist and Daoist temple records, and colophons on calligraphy and painting. He inscribed Zhao Mengfu’s Five-Colored Horse painting, wrote a colophon on Shen Rui’s Flute-playing on Jun Mountain, and wrote 《書畫舫記》.
The front matter of 《鐵崖古樂府》 included prefaces by Wu Fu, Zhang Yu, and others. After his death, Bei Qiong wrote 《鐵崖先生傳》 and Zhu Yizun wrote 《楊維楨傳》; his student Yin Kui wrote 《祭先師鐵崖楊先生文》.
Works
Titles associated with Yang Weizhen include 《西湖竹枝集》, 《東維子文集》, 《鐵崖古樂府》, 《麗則遺音》, 《正統辯》, 《歸全堂記》, 《四書一貫錄》, 《五經鈐鍵》, 《春秋透天關》, 《禮經約》, 《君子議歷代史鉞》, 《補正三史綱目》, and 《富春人物志》.
《麗則遺音》 and 《麗澤遺音》 both occur as titles; other titles include 《古樂府》, 《上皇帝書》, 《勸忠辭》, 《平鳴》, 《瓊臺》, 《洞庭》, 《雲間》, and 《祈上》. Three works are explicitly marked as authored by him: 《煮茶夢記》, 《啞倡志》, and 《南樓美人傳》, each in one juan.
References
- CBDB Yang Weizhen (12087)
- Wikidata Yang Weizhen (Q573800)