He was a senior general and political commissar in the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the younger half-brother of Yang Shangkun.

He became a guerrilla fighter in 1937, after Japan invaded China and joined the Chinese Communist Party in March 1938.

From 1949 until 1966 and the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, Yang continuously served in the Southwest, and took part in the invasion and conquest of Tibet in 1950–51, as well as the crushing of the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion.

The PLA 27th Group Army, which arrived from Hebei and killed several hundred protesters, was commanded by his son, Yang Jianhua.

Yang himself was very active in coordinating military assistance to the Afghans throughout the 1980s, which eventually included weapons such as heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft artillery.