On June 2, 1839, Yang Shoujing was born in Lucheng, Yidu, Hubei Province. Yang Shoujing was an outstanding historical geographer, jinshi philologist, calligraphy artist, and bibliophile in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, who was deeply accomplished in the fields of historical geography and edition bibliography, and was also the founder of the Li school of geography. He wrote as many as 83 kinds of works in his lifetime, and was widely involved in the subject, known as "the first beginner in the late Qing Dynasty", and his representative work "Water Commentary" is a monument in the history of Li Studies.
Born into a merchant family, Yang Shoujing had an extremely unfortunate childhood, having lost his father at the age of four and being raised by his grandfather. In 1849, he dropped out of school because of his family's poverty, but he insisted on self-study. Kung Fu paid off, and in 1857, at the age of 19, Yang Shoujing was a high school talent. In 1862, at the age of 23, he was admitted to the examination. In 1865, Yang Shoujing was appointed as a teacher of official studies in Jingshan, Beijing, and the following year, he concentrated on the study of Jinshi. In 1874, Yang Shoujing was transcribed by the Chinese History Museum, and from 1880 to 1882, he was an envoy to Japan, serving as an attaché of the Japanese minister He Ruzhang. During this period, he cut back on food and clothing, rescued a large number of ancient Chinese historical books and transported them back to China.
After returning to China, he was elected to teach the teachings of Huanggang County. In 1899, he was hired by Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, to teach at the Two Lakes Academy. He moved to Shanghai in 1911 and worked as a government adviser in Beijing in 1914. On January 9, 1915, he died in Beijing without illness at the age of 76. Xu Jialu, a famous linguist, educator and social activist in China, once commented: "Water Commentary" is the greatest achievement of the Yang family, and its Yu Lixue can be described as unprecedented