 Yang was a native of Shengyang and was sent to Japan in 1904 to study at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko, a military preparatory school, by the Qing government.He continued training at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, with a specialty in artillery.He returned to China after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and served in various military posts in the Beiyang government, and was chief of staff for Zhang Zuolin during the 1924 First Zhili–Fengtian War and in the 1925 Second Zhili–Fengtian War.