He is the son of Yang Yindong [zh], a former director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
He joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in September 1966, and the Chinese Communist Party in February 1968.
In December 1989, he became the deputy chief pilot of the CAAC Guangzhou Regional Administration, the predecessor of China Southern Airlines.
[1] In December 2007, he was appointed a minister-level deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety.
[2] Yang was a member of the 16th and the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.