Yang Weizhen was born in Zhuji, Zhejiang province. His courtesy name was Lianfu and he used a number of literary names including Tieya, Tiexindaoren, Tiedidaoren, Baoyizi, Tieshi, Dongweizi, Laotie, Yangbianmei, and Taohuamengsou. He passed the Imperial Exam in the fourth year of Emperor Taiding’s reign in the Yuan Dynasty (1327) and later held the position of a judicial officer (guituan) in the government of Jiande town. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he was promoted as an educational officer on Confucianism studies (ruxuetiju) in Jiangxi province. He was a man of accomplishments in literature, painting, and calligraphy.