As an Olympian and a competitive canoeist with master's degree graduated from Jiangxi Normal University, Yang officially announced his retirement at the 2009 National Games end, made a short time comeback for competing in the 13th National Games 2013. He won many medals in major international and domestic competition events, he was three gold and one silver medalists in two Asian Games; he participated in four National Games from 2001 to 2013, won four gold medalists in later three National Games.