Yang Shangkun (3 August 1907 - 14 September 1998) was a Chinese Communist military and political leader, President of the PRC (de jure head of state) from 1988 to 1993, and one of the Eight Elders that dominated the Party after the death of Mao Zedong.

Born in Sichuan, he joined the Communist Youth League in 1925 and in 1927 began to attend the Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow where he remained until 1931. In 1933 he arrived in Jiangxi and then took part in the Long March and later worked with other war leaders, Zhu De and Peng Dehuai. A key figure in running both the Party's general office and its Central Military Commission during the 1940s and 1950s, he supported Mao but fell out of favor during the Cultural Revolution. He supported Deng in the coup against the Gang of Four and in 1982 was made secretary-general of the Central Military Commission where he wielded considerable power and opposed political reforms. He backed the declaration of martial law in 1989 and together with his brother General Yang Baibing, made a bid for power. In 1992, however, Deng successfully ousted him and his followers.