Yang Yin (楊愔) (511 – 4 April 560[1]), courtesy name Zhunyan (遵彦), nickname Qinwang (秦王),[2] was a high-level official of the Chinese Northern Qi dynasty.
[4] In 526, during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, Northern Wei was suffering greatly from agrarian rebellions, and Yang Jin was commissioned with an army as the governor of Ding Province, roughly modern Baoding, Hebei).
[6] Later that year, when Yuan Hao the Prince of Beihai claimed imperial title under support from Liang Dynasty and captured Luoyang briefly, forcing Emperor Xiaozhuang to flee, Yang Yin convinced his cousin Yang Kan to remain loyal to Emperor Xiaozhuang.
However, after Yuan Hao was subsequently defeated by Erzhu, permitting Emperor Xiaozhuang to return to Luoyang, Yang Yin believed that the empire was not yet at peace and decided to leave governmental service, taking up a hermit's existence with his friend Xing Shao at Mount Song.
Yang therefore pretended to have committed suicide by drowning, but changed his name to Liu Shi'an and fled to Guang Province, roughly modern Yantai, Shandong) and hid on an island.
Pursuant to his edicts, the palace construction projects that Emperor Wenxuan started, which caused much misery for his people in the latter years of his reign, were halted.
Once the imperial train arrived at Yecheng, the situation became even more tense, as an associate of Yang's, Kezhuhun Tianhe, was convinced that Emperor Fei would not be safe in his reign unless his two uncles were killed, and alternatively, Yan Zixian considered putting Grand Empress Dowager Lou, who still wielded much power as the clan matriarch, under house arrest, and forcing her to turn her authorities to Empress Dowager Li.
[17] Meanwhile, the ambitious Yang was carrying out a governmental reorganization scheme to trim unnecessary offices and titles and to remove incompetent officials.