Yang Xiu (Han Dynasty)

Yang Xiu
A Qing dynasty illustration of Yang Xiu
Advisor of Cao Cao
Born	175
Died	219 (aged 44)
Names
Traditional Chinese	楊修
Simplified Chinese	杨修
Pinyin	Yáng Xīu
Wade–Giles	Yang Hsiu
Courtesy name	Dezu (Chinese: 德祖; pinyin: Dézǔ; Wade–Giles: Te-tsu)

Yang Xiu (175–219),courtesy name Dezu, was an advisor serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty.

Yang Xiu was the son of Yang Biao (楊彪) and a grandson of Yang Ci (楊賜). His mother, Lady Yuan (袁氏), was Yuan Shu's sister.

Sometime during the 200s, Yang Xiu was nominated as xiaolian and became a Registrar (主簿) under Cao Cao, the Imperial Chancellor. He was said to have been skilled in both civil and military affairs and understood Cao Cao well. Because of this, Yang Xiu became an influential figure in the government.

Yang Xiu was a close friend of Cao Cao's son, Cao Zhi, and became involved in the succession struggle between Cao Zhi and his brother Cao Pi. Yang Xiu's close links with Cao Zhi caused him misfortune during Cao Zhi's occasional misbehaviour such as the incident in Ye city, where Cao Zhi drunkenly rode through the gate reserved for only the emperor. But the final blow was when Yang Xiu was discovered to have leaked the council's discussion agenda to Cao Zhi so that his friend could prepare beforehand and impress Cao Cao. Because of this and remembering his connection with Yuan Shu, Cao Cao had Yang Xiu executed.

After his death, Cao Cao reproached Yang Xiu's father Yang Biao, who had previously retired from politics, for showing sorrow at the death of his son, but Yang Biao refused to show remorse for his grief and continued to acknowledge his sadness.

"Once, a garden door was built by some servants of Cao Cao. When he arrived, he did not talk to his servants about their work but instead wrote a character, 活, meaning "alive", on the door. Nobody could understand what Cao Cao meant by this, except Yang Xiu, who explained that, since, in Chinese, 門 means door, writing the character 活 inside a door forms the character 闊, which means "wide". Thus Cao Cao was indicating that he thought the door was too wide. The servants of Cao Cao then altered the garden door, and when Cao Cao heard that it was Yang Xiu alone who had understood his meaning, he became alerted of his talent.

Once, a nomadic tribe sent a box of cake to Cao Cao as a gift, who wrote the words 一合酥 on the box, which in English, means "a box of cake". However, when Yang Xiu saw it, he took out a spoon and shared the cake with the other followers of Cao Cao. Cao Cao, mystified, asked why, to which he replied, "My lord, you wrote the words 'A mouthful of cake for every man' on the box. How can we disobey your orders?" Since, in Chinese, the words 一合酥 can be separated into 一人一口酥, which translates thus. Cao Cao then became dissatisfied with Yang Xiu.