Biography
Yang Xiong (53 BCE–18 CE) was a Chinese Confucian, poet, and author from modern Chengdu, Sichuan. His name written in Chinese is 揚雄, but it is also frequently mistaken as 楊雄 in historical documents, for example in the Sancai Tuhui.
He did not believe human nature was inherently good as Mencius (fl. 4th century BCE) had written, nor inherently bad as Xunzi (c. 300–230 BCE) had written, but came into existence as a mixture of both. His works include the divinatory Taixuan (太玄, "Great Mystery"), the Fayan (法言, "Words to Live By" - also referred to as 楊子法言) anthology, and the first dialect dictionary Fangyan. He was a close associate of the official and philosopher Huan Tan (d. 28 CE), an Old Texts realist who may have heavily influenced the works of Wang Chong (27–c. 100 CE). Yang is also known for his protest against the verbosity of the fu. He was hailed by Huan Tan as the "Confucius from the western parts".X
