Yang Shen

Yang Shen (1488–1559) was a Ming-dynasty poet and scholar from Xindu in Sichuan and son of grand secretary Yang Tinghe. In 1511 he took first place in the palace examination, becoming zhuangyuan, and joined the Hanlin Academy.

In the Great Rites Controversy of 1524 he led officials weeping and protesting at the palace gate over the emperor's choice of imperial father. He was twice flogged and exiled to the Yongchang garrison in Yunnan.

There he spent more than thirty years. He produced many works on Yunnan's nature and history, including the lyric The Immortals by the River.