[1] Through his teaching of ethics at the First Normal School of Changsha, Changji had become a father figure to a pupil named Mao Zedong,[2] later writing in his journal that "it is truly difficult to imagine someone so intelligent and handsome" as him.

[3][4] A friendship developing, in summer 1916, Mao was invited to spend several days at Yang's Bancang home, walking twenty miles in straw sandals in order to get there.

[8] Their relationship did not develop swiftly, as Mao was shy and lacked sufficient funds to court her, living in cramped rented accommodation with other Hunanese students in Peking's Three-Eyed Well district.

[10] Changji secured Mao a job at the university library as assistant to the librarian Li Dazhao, an early Chinese communist.

Mao was in Peking ostensibly on business,[11] though biographer Stuart Schram suspected his presence was partly due to his desire to comfort Kaihui.

[13] At the missionary school, her exposure to revolutionary ideas got her labeled a 'rebel', who refused to pray and cut her hair short in defiance of convention.

[16] Yang and Mao were among the most effective Communist political organizers using this method, using it in the Anyuan mines and nearby peasant communities.

[16] In April 1923, Mao went to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai to work as the Organization Department Minister.

In 1925, accompanied by Mao, Yang Kaihui went to Shaoshan to organize peasant movements, while caring for her husband and educating their children.

Mao's Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan including Yang's contributions, was published in March of that year.

[citation needed] In October 1930, the local KMT warlord He Jian captured Yang Kaihui and her son Mao Anying.

Even under torture, she is reputed to have told her captors, "You could kill me as you like, you would never get anything from my mouth ... Chopping off the head is like the passing of wind, death could frighten cowards, rather than our Communists ...

[20] In spring 1957, Li Shuyi, a friend and comrade of Mao and Yang's, wrote a poem in memory of her own husband, Liu Chih-hsün, a member of the Red Army who had been killed in 1933.

Jì mò cháng'é shū guǎng xiù Wàn lǐ cháng kōng qiě wèi zhōng hún wǔ Hū bào rén jiān céng fú hǔ Lèi fēi dùn zuò qīng pén yǔ I lost my proud poplar, and you your willow, Poplar and willow soar lightly to the heaven of heavens.

The lonely lady on the moon, Chang E, spreads her vast sleeves and dances for these good souls in the unending sky.

[citation needed] One of them, "偶感 [Ǒu Gǎn]" ("Occasional Feeling"), was written in October 1928, two years before her death, and discovered when her former residence was being repaired about 50 years later:[citation needed] 天阴起溯风，浓寒入肌骨。 念兹远行人，平波突起伏。 足疾可否痊？寒衣是否备？ 孤眠谁爱护，是否亦凄苦？ 书信不可通，欲问无人语。 恨无双飞翮，飞去见兹人。 兹人不得见，惘怅无已时。 Tiān yīn qǐ sù fēng, nóng hán rù jī gǔ.

Since the Centennial of the Xinhai Revolution, she has been portrayed by various actresses in several red-themed[23] historical drama movies and television series.