As a player he represented Beijing Guoan, Waldhof Mannheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, FC St. Pauli, Shenzhen Jianlibao and Xiamen Blue Lions.

He gradually established himself within their team during his time with them, however it was only once he had a short loan period with lower league German Waldhof Mannheim in 1998 did he show his potential as a forward.

While his time with Frankfurt was viewed as a success when new manager Felix Magath came in during the 2000–01 season Yang Chen did lose favour within the team and would have to fight back for his position before deciding to move to 2.

Yang Chen went back to his home country to play for Shenzhen Jianlibao where under the manager Zhu Guanghu his career would thrive once more and he would go on to win the 2004 Chinese Super League title.

Once Zhu Guanghu left to take over the Chinese national team and Chi Shangbin came in to replace him Yang Chen and several other players immediately took a disliking to him.