Yang Zai

Life

Orphaned in youth, Yang Zai read widely and at the age of forty had still not entered official service. Jia Guoying of the Ministry of Revenue recommended him to the court several times. He was summoned from commoner status to serve as a compiler in the Hanlin National History Academy. While there, he helped compile the *Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong* and was later transferred to serve as a clerk in the Office of the Maritime Military Households.

At the beginning of the Yanyou era, he was the first to respond to the court’s examination edict and passed the Presented Scholar examination; an alternative account dates his success to the second year of Yanyou (1315). He was first appointed Chengwulang and associate prefect of Fuliang in Raozhou Circuit. He was later transferred to be judicial assistant in the General Administration Office of Ningguo Circuit, but died before taking up the post.

Literature and poetics

When Zhao Mengfu was serving in the Hanlin, he read Yang Zai’s writings and held them in high esteem; Yang’s reputation consequently spread through the capital, and much of what he wrote was widely transmitted. His prose took qi as its governing principle and formed its own style, while his poetry was especially disciplined; it was praised as having swept away the shortcomings of late-Song poetry.

Yang Zai was ranked with Yu Ji and Fan Peng, and was also counted with Jie Xisi among the “Four Great Poets of the Yuan.” In the early Huangqing era, he and Fan Peng served together as historiographers, remaining in the office after duty until moonrise and sometimes continuing their conversations by lamplight. When Yu Ji was likewise in the capital, he often visited Yang with wine to ask about the craft of poetry; Yang, Yu, and Fan engaged in mutual exchange and refinement.

Yang Zai held that poetry should draw its materials from the Han and Wei periods, while its tonal patterns should take the Tang as their model. He also said that he had worked for more than twenty years before he could bring the various methods together and grasp some part of them; in his time, those who discussed poetic technique ranked him first. In a preface to his poetry, Fan Hengfu praised his expansive endowment, grand bearing, and discussions that looked directly across the ages.

Works

His collected writings are known as 《楊仲弘集》, a title also found as 《楊仲弘詩集》; one ci poem survives. Yang Zai also wrote a preface for Yuan Yi’s 《靜春堂詩集》.

Family

His father was Yang Qiqian. His sons were Yang Zun, Yang Qian, and Yang Di; Yang Qian is listed as the eldest, and Yang Di as the third son.