YANG HSIUNG

born c. 53 BC, near Ch'eng-tu, Szechwan Province, China died AD 18, , Ch'ang-an, now Sian, Shensi Province Pinyin Yang Xiong Chinese poet and philosopher best known for his poetry written in the form known as fu (q.v.). As a quiet and studious young man he came to admire and practice the fu form. When he was over 40 years of age he went to live in the Imperial capital, Ch'ang-an (Sian), where his reputation as a poet won him a position at court. In AD 9 when Wang Mang usurped the Imperial throne and executed or imprisoned many prominent persons, Yang Hsiung, about to be arrested and fearful that he could not clear himself, threw himself from the high window of a pavilion and was badly injured. The Emperor, finding that Yang had no interest in politics, ordered that his case be dropped. In later life Yang Hsiung turned from poetry to philosophy, in which he was influenced by both Confucianism and Taoism. The doctrine for which he is remembered reflects the perennial Chinese interest in human nature, which Yang regarded as a mixture of good and evil, avoiding the extreme positions taken by Mencius (original goodness) and Hsn-tzu (original evil). His chief works in philosophy were the Fa-yen, in 13 chapters, devoted to ethics, history, etc., and the T'ai-hsan ching, 15 essays imitating the Confucian Classic I Ching in form.