Yang Kuan

Yang Kuan (1914 − September 1, 2005), styled Kuanzheng (寬正), was a Chinese historian specializing in pre-Qin dynasty Chinese history. He is considered an authority of the Warring States period, and his History of the Warring States, first published in 1955, remains the most authoritative treatment of the subject.

Early life and education Yang Kuan was born in Qingpu County, Jiangsu Province (now Qingpu District of Shanghai) in 1914. He attended the prestigious Suzhou High School, whose teachers included famous scholars Lü Shuxiang and Ch'ien Mu, one of the greatest historians of modern China. In 1941, Yang's book-size Introduction to China's High Antiquity was published as part of the seventh and last volume of the Debates on Ancient History.

Yang is generally considered a member of the Doubting Antiquity School, as he argued that the pre-Xia dynasty history recorded in ancient texts was "historization" of prehistoric mythology, a position that is widely accepted by today's historians. However, he disagreed with Gu Jiegang and Kang Youwei's view that ancient scholars such as Confucius and Liu Xin deliberately introduced falsehoods into historical texts, and held the opinion that it was a long process of natural evolution of ancient mythology. Gu later changed his position and accepted Yang's view. Yang further differed from Gu in that he also believed that the extant history of the Xia dynasty was pure mythology. In total Yang Kuan published more than a dozen books and 225 essays.

Later life In 1984 Yang Kuan moved to the United States, settling in Miami, Florida. He continued to write in the US, and published an autobiography. He died in Miami on September 1, 2005, aged 91.