Yang Xiao, his daughter, says that of the main characters from the 14th-century classical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, her father felt great admiration for Guan Yunchang, a respected military general known for his loyalty.

Yang Gang's favorite novels included And Quiet Flows the Don, the epic work by Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov, and The Call of the Wild by US novelist Jack London, which inspired in his work "a heroic, romantic touch combined with idealism".

Yang Gang's paintings of grassland life and sports are also on show and one can sense a philosophical outlook that dominates his work. He once said: "While on the grassland, I was moved by a state of men and the universe in profound unity. It continues to be a spiritual haven for me."

Shi Guoliang, a painter and Yang Gang's former schoolmate at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, says: "He was righteous, kind and sincere, and when doing art, he was persistent and industrious."