A woman's doubles specialist, Yang has won some forty international titles, most of them in the sport's top tier events, since 1998.

Prior to 2003 she partnered Huang Nanyan with whom she earned a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and gained the winning point against South Korea in the 2002 Uber Cup (women's world team championship) final.

Her subsequent partnership with Zhang Jiewen has been even more successful as they have shared international domination with compatriot rivals Gao Ling and Huang Sui.

In 2008 Yang helped China to secure its sixth consecutive Uber Cup title and won women's doubles at the Swiss, Thailand, and Malaysia Opens with Zhang Jiewen.

At the Beijing Olympics where they were first seeded, however, Yang and Zhang were upset in the quarterfinals by Japan's Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna.