Yang was born in Xiyang County, Shanxi, in January 1961. He began working in August 1977 and joined the Chinese Communist Party in April 1986. He studied economic law at Jilin University, earning a Master of Laws degree, and later completed postgraduate training at the Central Party School.[2] Yang began his career as a youth worker at the Liangzhong Breeding Farm in Xiyang County before enrolling in the Faculty of Law at Jilin University in 1979. After graduation, he joined the Supreme People's Court, where he successively served as clerk, assistant judge, and later editor and deputy director at the People's Court Daily. During this period, he completed additional legal studies and mid-career Party training.[3]
From 2000 onward, Yang held a series of increasingly senior posts in the Supreme People's Court, including judge of the First and Second Criminal Divisions, deputy head of the Second Criminal Division, and deputy director of the General Office. In 2005, he became head of the Fourth Criminal Division. In 2006, he was appointed a member of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court, a position he held for many years while concurrently heading key criminal divisions.[4]
In January 2016, Yang was transferred to Beijing, where he served as Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and President of the Beijing High People's Court.[5] In June 2018, he returned to the Supreme People's Court as vice president, member of the Judicial Committee, and a second-grade senior judge.[6] Beginning in 2020, he concurrently served as Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and later President of the First Circuit Court of the Supreme People's Court.[4]
Yang became Vice Chairperson of the Social and Legal Affairs Committee of the CPPCC in 2023, and he was formally reappointed to the same position in November 2024. He has also served as a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, Executive Vice President of the Judicial Theory Research Association of the China Law Society, and Executive Vice President of the China Judicial Research Association.[7]