Wang Shih-min, and Wang Chien [qq. v.]. Toward the end of the Ch'ung-chên reign-period (1628–1644) he became magistrate of Chiangning (Nanking), but was charged with corruption and was dismissed in 1644. When the Prince of Fu (see under Chu Yu-sung) established his court in Nanking, Yang was appointed, at the suggestion of his brother-in-law, Ma Shih-ying [q. v.], a secretary in the Board of War, with supervision of military affairs along the Yangtze. In the following year he was made assistant military intendant of Changchow and Chinkiang in Kiangsu province, and concurrently supervisor of the armies of Chêng Hung-k'uei [q. v.] and Chêng Ts'ai (see under Chu I-hai). Manchu forces, stationed on the north bank of the Yangtze, crossed the river under a heavy fog on the night of May 29–30, 1645, defeated the Ming army, and took Nanking on June 8. Yang Wên-ts'ung fled to Soochow, but was pursued by special messengers who were sent to win him over to the Ch'ing side. Declining to comply, he killed the messengers and fled further south to Ch'u-chou. Under the rule of the Prince of T'ang at Foochow (see under Chu Yü-chien), he was made junior vice-president of the Board of War and was charged to undertake the recovery of Nanking. His son, Yang Ting-ch'ing 楊鼎卿, was also favorably received at Court. Early in the autumn of 1646 the Manchu forces advanced southward from Hangchow. Unable to hold his position, Yang Wên-tsóung retreated to Pu-ch'êng, Fukien, where he was captured. On refusing to renounce his allegiance, he was killed.
As was customary with many men of arts and letters in his day, Yang Wên-ts'ung led a life of conviviality and was fond of social and literary gatherings. One of his friends was Hsia Yün-i 夏允彝 (T. 彝仲, 1596–1645), a chin-shih of 1637 who organized the socio-political group known as Chi-shê 幾社 (a branch of the Fu-shê, see under Chang P'u), and who in 1645 drowned himself in loyalty to the Ming cause. Despite Yang's fidelity to the Fu-shê, he was criticized because of his relations with Ma Shihying and the latter's ally, Juan Ta-ch'êng [q. v.]. In K'ung Shang-jên's [q. v.] dramatic masterpiece, The Peach Blossom Fan (T'ao-hua shan) the name of Yang Wên-ts'ung figures prominently as the artist who painted the fan by converting blood-stains into peach blossoms. He is credited with a work on landscape painting, entitled 山水迻 Shan-shui i, and with a literary collection, entitled 洵美堂集 Hsün-mei t'ang chi. The L.T.C.L.H.M., pp. 351–52, lists a number of paintings attributed to him. Specimens of his calligraphy and a preface, written by him in 1627, appear in the manual of woodcuts known as 十竹齋畫譜 Shih-chu chai hua-p'u which was compiled by Hu Chêng-yen 胡正言 (T. 曰從, H. 次公), a native of Hsiu-ning, Anhwei.
[M.1/277/18a; M.59/18/1a; M.64 hsin 6/19b; Kweiyang fu-chih (1850) 73/25b; (Chekiang) Ch'ü-hsien chih (1929) 9/26a, for information on date of death.]
YANG Yü-ch'un 楊遇春 (T. 時齋), Jan. 19, 1762–1837, Apr. 3, general, the first Marquis Chao-yung (昭勇侯), was a native of Ch'ung-ch'ing, Szechwan, west of Chengtu. Becoming a military chü-jên in 1779, he started his career in 1780 as a non-commissioned officer in a battalion under the command of the governor-general of Szechwan. In 1781 he began to serve under Fu-k'ang-an [q. v.] whom he followed in battles against the Mohammedan rebels in Kansu (1784), against insurgents in Formosa (1788–89), against the Gurkas in Nepal (1792–93), and against the Miao tribesmen in Hunan and Kweichow (1795–96). By 1796 he was promoted to the rank of a colonel. Then he fought under Ê-lê-têng-pao [q. v.] against the rebels known as the White Lily Sect and was made a brigadegeneral (1797). In 1800 he was recommended by his superior as capable of commanding a separate force and was made provincial commander-inchief at Kan-chou, Kansu. Thereafter he fought insurgents on the borders of Kansu, Shensi, and Szechwan, and for his various victories was given, early in 1803, the hereditary rank of a Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü of the second class. From 1803 to 1805 he stayed mostly at Han-chung, Shensi, making an end of small groups of bandits in the mountains. In 1806, when on his way to Peking, he heard about the mutiny of a part of the garrison at Ning-shan (see under Yang Fang) and at once collected an army at Sian to subdue it. For permitting Yang Fang to effect a surrender of the mutineers, instead of annihilating them, Yang Yü-ch'un was degraded, early in 1807, to a brigade-general, stationed at Ning-shan. In 1808 he was appointed to the post of provincial commander-in-chief, stationed at Ku-yüan, Kansu; and in 1813 was ordered to Honan to fight the rebels at Hua-hsien (see under Na-yen-ch'êng). Owing primarily to his efforts,
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