Wu Hongliang, head of Beijing Fine Art Academy, describes Yang as "an artist who shunned exposure to the media and public attention, even when his work was on show, but whose talent is recognized by his peers in the art world".

"He was genuine. He spared no effort to show his honesty and energy to onlookers and through his work. And he worked so hard. I feel that he painted almost every day," Wu says. "He reminds me of another industrious master artist of 20th-century China, Qi Baishi, who felt he was not being himself if he went just one day without painting. I think Yang was the same kind of person who was so completely devoted to art."

Alongside his painting work, Yang took in students. One of them, Wang Yingsheng, painted under the guidance of Yang for more than three decades. Wang says that his teacher was true to himself and others, innocent and not bound by mundane rules and concerns.