Born a Hakka in Taoyuan in 1925, Yang studied in the United States in the 1950s and then settled down in California. He formed organizations for Taiwan’s Hakka affairs in the US during 1970s and 1980s. Yang was the founding president of Taiwanese Hakka Association of the World (世界台灣客家聯合會), which was established in 1997 in Texas.
Knowing that it’s never easy to live in a foreign country as an immigrant, Yang always loved to help Taiwanese compatriots who had difficulties on the land of Stars and Stripes.
Dr. Yang was committed to uniting members of the Hakka community at home and abroad. He actively promoted the Hakka as one of the national languages in Taiwan while he served as a national policy advisor in the government from 2000 to 2008. The Hakka doyen spared no efforts to create a global Hakka organization which takes Taiwan as its focus, for which he has been greatly admired by the members of the Taiwanese Hakka community.
Yang’s passionate devotion to Hakka affairs earned him the Hakka Contribution Award in 2021. Although Yang left this world, his enthusiasm and warm-heartedness will be remembered by Taiwanese Hakka people.