 In 535, he was created the Duke of Taiyuan.Gao Yang was not well regarded as a child, as he was awkward in interpersonal skills and at times considered developmentally disabled, being unable to carry out many tasks common for children.However, it appeared that he was actually of fairly high capability in many areas, and once, when Gao Huan tried to test his children's intelligence by giving them tangled balls of yarn to untangle, Gao Yang took out his sword and sliced the ball open, stating that that was the only solution.