Yáng Yú 楊瑀 (1285–1361), zì Yuánchéng 元誠, hào Shānjū 山居, was a Hángzhōu literatus and Yuán court official who rose to senior provincial command. He has no biography in the Yuánshǐ (Yuán 元 dynastic history), but 楊維楨 Yáng Wéizhēn’s collected works contain his tomb-stele (mùbēi), which the Sìkù compilers used as the principal biographical source.
Career: In the Tiānlì period (1328–1330) under Yuán Wénzōng (Tugh Temür), Yáng Yú was promoted to Zhōngruìsī diǎnbù 中瑞司典簿. The emperor, valuing his probity and prudence, advanced him beyond rank to Fèngyì dàfū Tàishǐyuàn pànguān 奉議大夫太史院判官 (Assistant Director of the Astronomical Bureau, with the prestige rank of Grand Master of Court Discussions) — an appointment that placed him at the heart of the Kuízhānggé 奎章閣, Wénzōng’s literary academy. In Zhìzhèng yǐwèi (1355), when the Hóngjīn (Red Turban) rebellions broke across Jiāngdōng and Zhèxī, he was reassigned as Jiàndélù zǒngguǎn 建德路總管 (Prefect of Jiàndé, modern Jiàndé in Zhèjiāng); the people there are said to have set up his likeness in fourteen shrines. The provincial branch secretariat ranked his merit highest, and he was advanced to Zhōngfèng dàfū 中奉大夫 Zhèdōngdào xuānwèishǐ dūyuánshuài 浙東道宣慰使都元帥 (Pacification Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief of the Zhèdōng circuit). He retired (guītián) some time before Zhìzhèng gēngzǐ (1360), in which year he wrote his own postface to the Shānjū xīnhuà; he died the following year.
Father: per the Shānjū xīnhuà entry on the suicide of the Sòng palace women in 1276, Yáng Yú’s father served as a shūmì (Bureau of Military Affairs) officer in the entourage that escorted the surrendered Sòng court to Shàngdū — Yáng Yú had the account at first remove from a participant.
Sole transmitted work in the Kanripo corpus: KR3l0081 Shānjū xīnhuà 山居新話, in 4 juàn, a major mid-Yuán bǐjì of court anecdote, institutional precedent, and kǎozhèng notes — translated in full into German by Herbert Franke (1956) as the standard Western-language access-point to late-Yuán court culture.
CBDB id 35130 (1285–1361) is the unambiguous match among the eight Yáng Yú entries in CBDB; the other homonyms either lack dates, lack the relevant dynasty, or (id 201944) belong to a Míng-era figure of the same name (b. 1477).