It is not known exactly when Yang Shou was born — but he was said to be 25 when he passed the imperial examinations late in Emperor Wenzong's Kaicheng era (836-840), and thus there is some reference to his birth date.
His family was originally from Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), and claimed ancestry from the Sui dynasty general Yang Su.
His immediate male-line ancestors were said to be Confucian scholars, and his father Yang Yizhi (楊遺直) served as a personnel officer at Hao Prefecture (濠州, in modern Chuzhou, Anhui).
[2] By the reign of Emperor Wenzong's uncle Emperor Xuānzong, the chancellor Ma Zhi wanted to recall Yang Shou to Chang'an to serve as the sheriff of nearby Weinan County (渭南, in modern Weinan), and to also serve as an imperial censor and an assistant scholar at Jixian Institute (集賢院).
[5] Subsequently, when Lady Zhangsun died, Yang Shou left governmental service and went back to Su Prefecture to observe a mourning period for her.
Then-leading chancellor Linghu Tao thus commissioned Yang as Kubu Langzhong (庫部郎中), a supervisory official at the ministry of census, as well as imperial scholar (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi), in charge of drafting edicts.
[9] After Yang Shou became chancellor, it was said that he began to live luxuriously, and members of his household, including the guards and the servants, were openly demanding bribes.
[9] Subsequently, Emperor Yizong, because he favored this proposal greatly, rewarded Yang with the titles of You Pushe (右僕射), director of Taiqing (太清宮) and Taiwei (太微宮) Palaces, and imperial scholar at Hongwen Pavilion (弘文院), and created him the Baron of Jinyang.
Because of this, in 866, Yang Shou was removed from his chancellor post and made the governor of Xuanshe Circuit (宣歙, in modern Xuancheng, Anhui).
In 867, Emperor Yizong thus further demoted Yang to be the military advisor to the prefect of Duan Prefecture (端州, in modern Zhaoqing, Guangdong).
[9] However, apparently before Yang had a chance to report to Duan Prefecture, as he was going through Jianling,[11] Emperor Yizong sent the eunuch Guo Quanmu (郭全穆) to track him down and order him to commit suicide.