新疆生産建設兵団
Yang was born in Gaocheng County, Hebei in January 1953, near the city of Shijiazhuang. He followed his father Yang Zhaocai to Xinjiang where the family lived at and worked for the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC). Yang's father was a human resources official with the XPCC. Beginning in 1969, he performed agricultural labour for the XPCC; he remained there for much of the Cultural Revolution.