Yang Lian

Life

His father, 楊崇, had studied under 胡九韶, and Yang Lian inherited the family learning; 胡九韶 is also identified as his teacher. He was known in his youth for literary accomplishment and conduct. His grandfather was 楊行素 and his great-grandfather 楊德義; his mother was 劉氏, his elder brother was 楊廣, his younger brothers were 楊康 and 楊庥, and his wife was 陳氏. He was friends with 張芝 and 童品.

He became a shengyuan early in life. In 1477, he placed first in the Jiangxi provincial examination of the dingyou year and became the jieyuan. In 1487, he placed third in the metropolitan examination of the dingwei year and ranked 202nd in the third class of the jinshi. After the 1487 examination, he was selected as a shujishi of the Hanlin Academy, appointed Nanjing Supervisor of the Household Section in 1490, and successively transferred to the Criminal and Military Sections. He later served as Junior Vice Minister of the Guanglu Temple; the posting is given as both Nanjing and the capital.

In the fifth year of Hongzhi (1492), in response to anomalous events, he submitted a memorial setting out six proposals, called for the recall of officials exiled for remonstrating, addressed flooding in Liangzhe and Sanwu, and halted extra textile production. During the Zhengde era, he served as Prefect of Shuntian and held the Taipu Temple office, the Right Tongzheng of the Court of Transmission, and the Right Vice Minister of Rites in Nanjing; the Taipu title is given as both Qing and Shaoqing. In Zhengde 16 he became Minister of Rites; in the early Jiajing era he reached Nanjing Minister of Rites. He later requested retirement, returned home, died after two years there at age 74, and was posthumously granted Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous name Wenke.

Thought and learning

Yang Lian was close to Luo Qinshun and pursued the learning of maintaining reverence and investigating principle. He held that writing must be grounded in the Six Classics; he was learned in rites and music, finance, calendrical astronomy, and mathematics.

Works

He wrote 《月湖集》, 《大學衍義節略》, and 《皇明名臣言行錄》. The title 《月湖集》 is given as 48 juan, while the title 《楊文恪公文集》 is given as 62 juan.