Yang Guangxian

Yang Guangxian (, 1597–1669) was a Confucian writer and astronomer who was the head of the Bureau of Astronomy (欽天監) from 1665 to 1669.

Biography Yang Guangxian was an assistant guard commander of the Xinanwei (新安卫) in Southern Zhili during the late Ming period. In 1637, he went to Beijing and then tried to advance himself by charging other people with criminal acts, or blackmailing them. When he tried this against Grand Secretary Wen Tiren (溫體仁), he was exiled to Liaoxi (遼西), where he stayed until the end of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. In Liaoxi, he learned astrology and fortunetelling. Schall suffered a stroke during the investigations and had to be supported by the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest.

In April 1665, Schall and seven of his Chinese assistants were found guilty and sentenced to death. Eventually, only five Christian Chinese were executed: all Christian missionaries were exiled to Macau instead, with only the four Jesuits remaining in Beijing. Adam Schall, who died in 1666, would not live long enough to see the ban lifted in 1671. In 1668, however, he was removed from the post and replaced again by the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest, because he could not produce a valid calendar during a competition with the Jesuit astronomers. The previous case against the Jesuits was reinvestigated and all findings were reversed. Yang was sentenced to death, only to be exiled to his native village due to his old age. He died the next year during his journey home.