active 17th century Erzeng Yang

Active around 1590–1602, this Chinese author and publisher worked in Hangzhou during the late Ming period. Reliable modern references describe him as both a writer and a publisher, which helps explain why his work sits at the crossroads of storytelling, religious culture, and print history.

He is best known for The Story of Han Xiangzi (Han Xiangzi quanzhuan), an early 17th-century novel written in vernacular Chinese. The book follows Han Xiangzi—one of the Eight Immortals—and carries a strong Daoist message, blending adventure, wonder, and spiritual themes in a way that still feels vivid to modern readers.

Although not much biographical detail is easy to confirm, his name continues to matter because this novel preserves an important strand of late Ming popular literature. Through that work, readers get a glimpse of a world where religion, entertainment, and publishing were closely connected.