In 1945, he graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou.
In 1948, Yang went to study in the United States, and obtained his Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1951.
After 1969, Yang was Vice-president, later President of East China Petroleum College (华东石油学院).
[2] In 1950s, Yang and Prof. Wu Chi (武迟) co-founded the first educational program of oil and natural gas engineering/refining in China.
[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 26 October 2018 (M.P.C.