Yang Du, also called Xi Zi, is from Xiangtan, Hunan province. When he was young, he pursued his study with the direction of Wang Kaiyun, a famous literator of Qing dynasty in Chuanshan Academy on Dongzhou island in Hengyang, and later went on to further his study in Japan. He serve as the chief editor of China New Paper in 1907 and promote monarchy. When 1911 Revolution broke out, induced by Yuan Shikai, he cooperated with Wang Jiangwei to organize a freemasonry for domestic affairs. After Yuan Shikai dissolved the congress in 1914, Yang served as the political consultant for political consultative meeting, and the chairman of the Chou'an Association in the following year to plot to restore the feudal autocratic monarchy. During the period of the first domestic revolutionary, he gradually got awakened and began to shift his focus on revolutions. And in 1927, when some revolutionaries including Li Dazhao were arrested by Zhang Zuolin, he resort to different plans to rescue them but failed. In his late years, he moved to Shanghai, and participated in many progressive groups like China Benefit Society ans etc. there. And he became a member of CPC (the Communist Party of China) in 1929.