Yang Weizhen was a famous writer, calligrapher and painter in the late Yuan Dynasty. His courtesy name is Lianfu and his nickname is Tieya. Because he likes and is good at playing the iron flute, he is also known as the Iron Flute Taoist. Yang Weizhen's introduction said that he was one of the "Three Masters of the Late Yuan Dynasty" and was very famous in the literary world of the Yuan Dynasty.
Yang Weizhen has profound attainments in many literary fields, and his calligraphy is also outstanding. His poems are self-contained, known as "iron cliff style", and their characteristics are crazy and strange, fresh and strange. Because of this style of writing, Yang Weizhen is also called a "literary demon". Yang Weizhen's works have been highly praised throughout the ages, which shows that Yang Weizhen has made great achievements in literature.
In Yang Weizhen's profile, it is said that Yang Weizhen took a pee while studying in the red building built by his father. It is worth mentioning that in order to allow him to study with peace of mind, his father removed the stairs in the Red Building and only used a windlass to pass food around. In this situation, Yang Weizhen stayed for five years and his knowledge surpassed that of his teacher.
When Yang Weizhen was 20 years old, he went to Yongdong to study. Yang Weizhen's father sold his good horses to support his study tour. Yang Weizhen scrimped on food and clothing and returned home after buying a large number of books. His father happily said that these books were much more valuable than fine horses.
After Yang Weizhen became an official, he was not promoted for ten years because of his upright character and dislike of flattery. Later, due to transportation difficulties, he was unable to move to an official position, so he wandered around western Zhejiang. After Zhang Shicheng occupied western Zhejiang, he failed to respond despite repeated calls. After Ming Taizu conquered the world, he also summoned Yang Weizhen, but Yang Weizhen said he would not serve in the second dynasty and bluntly refused.
Ming Taizu forcibly recruited him again, so Yang Weizhen had no choice but to go to Beijing. After the compilation was completed, Yang Weizhen resigned. But he died shortly after arriving home. Yang Weizhen's profile also gives a good introduction to Yang Weizhen as a person. Yang Weizhen was kind to others and only respected those who were talented and virtuous, regardless of their status. I usually like to praise other people's talents and don't care much about mistakes. Yang Weizhen like this would be very happy just to be his friend.