This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Yang Xiu (Three Kingdoms) is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007) |
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (December 2006) |
| Yang Xiu (Three Kingdoms) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese: | 楊修 | ||
| Simplified Chinese: | 杨修 | ||
|
|||
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yang (楊).
Yang Xiu (175 - 219) was an official in the Three Kingdoms era.
Biography
Yang Xiu was the son of the esteemed Han dynasty officer Yang Biao, and nephew of the powerful warlord Yuan Shao. Yang Xiu served as an officer in Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao executed him in 219 because he mistook the warlord's night signal for an order to retreat.
Yang Xiu is described as one of the two sole "talented" officers under Cao Cao; the other was Kong Rong, a descendant of Confucius.citation needed
According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao killed Yang Xiu because he was too clever and boastful, as described in the following passages:citation needed
"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. Yang Xiu was a friend of Cao Zhi, the third son of Cao Cao, and tried to help him become the successor of Cao Cao, competing against Cao Pi, his eldest son. In order to make Cao Zhi seem suitable for succeeding Cao Cao, Yang Xiu wrote ten essays on general topics about political and military affairs for Cao Zhi, which the latter used. When Cao Cao discovered this, he was infuriated and shouted 'How dare he deceive me!' and thus became angry with Yang Xiu and Cao Zhi."
See also
- Three Kingdoms
- Personages of the Three Kingdoms
- Records of Three Kingdoms
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 6 October 2008, at 05:56.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Yang Xiu (Three Kingdoms)".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.