Yang Wanli

Life

Early in his career, he studied under Zhang Jun, who encouraged him in the learning of “rectifying the mind and making one’s intentions sincere”; Yang consequently named his study Chengzhai. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-fourth year of the Shaoxing reign (1154), was first assigned as a Sihu canjun in Ganzhou, and later served as assistant magistrate of Lingling in Yongzhou and magistrate of Fengxin in Longxing Prefecture.

In the sixth year of Qiandao (1170), he was summoned as a Doctor of the Directorate of Education, then promoted to a Doctor of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and a junior supervisor in the Directorate of Palace Building; he later governed Zhangzhou and was transferred to Changzhou. In 1179, he became commissioner for regularizing tea and salt in the Guangdong Circuit, soon followed by appointment as circuit judicial commissioner, and was recalled as a left-side langguan. In the twelfth year of Chunxi, he submitted a memorial in response to an earthquake and was promoted to Reader in the Eastern Palace; in the fourteenth year he became Junior Supervisor of the Palace Library.

Between the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Chunxi, he was sent to govern Junzhou after opposing a proposal for imperial temple enshrinement. The issue is variously described as the enshrinement of Lü Yihao or as Hong Mai’s proposal concerning the chamber of Gaozong. After Guangzong’s accession, he was recalled as Secretary Supervisor and concurrently served as a reviewer in the Veritable Records Office. In 1190, he became deputy transport commissioner for Jiangdong and was given temporary charge of the military provisions and finances of Huaisi and Jiangdong.

After arguing that the circulation of iron cash in Jiangnan was impractical and offending the chief minister, he was appointed governor of Ganzhou but did not take up the post. When Ningzong succeeded, he repeatedly declined summons and retired in 1199. He was later appointed Secret Pavilion editor and commissioner of Wanshou Palace, never returning to office; during Ningzong’s reign he received the title Bao wen ge daizhi.

His father was Yang Fu; his mother is identified only as a woman of an unspecified clan. His sons included Yang Changru and Yang Cigong, the second son. His friends included Zhu Xi, Lu You, and Wang Houzhi. He died in 1206, in the second year of Kaixi, at age eighty; another transmitted account gives eighty-three.

Poetry and thought

Yang was a major poet who developed the Chengzhai style; he was counted with You Mao, Fan Chengda, and Lu You among the Four Great Poets of the Southern Song. He was described as forthright, refused to attach himself to Han Tuozhou, and advocated restoration.

Works

His surviving works include Chengzhai ji, in 133 juan, and the Yizhuan, in 20 juan. His collected poems comprise 42 juan, with a one-juan cicao and an additional forty-fourth juan compiled from poems outside the collection. The title Chengzhai huichen lu is also associated with him, while Junbi zhuan, in one juan, is listed as a work he compiled.