He is good at Chinese painting, especially Chinese portraits and dance, as well as calligraphy, seal cutting, flower and bird painting and poetry. From 1990 to 2000, he traveled to the United States to hold art exhibitions and give lectures.
In 1954, his work "The First Time in My Life" won the "March to Science and Culture Medal".
The large-scale work "Serving Meals on a Snowy Night" won the gold medal at the "Seventh World Youth Festival" in Vienna in 1959.
The work "Tibetan Horse Racing Champion" won the honorary award at the "National Sports Art Exhibition" in 1985.
In February 1991, he won the Outstanding Achievement Award for Chinese Painting distributed by the International Culture and Art Center in New York, USA.
In 1993, he won the Honorary Award from the California and San Francisco municipal governments.
In September 2002, the "Yang Zhiguang Art Center" was completed in Panyu District, Guangzhou.
In October 2003, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts held a grand celebration of "Professor Yang Zhiguang's 50th Anniversary of Teaching".
"Selected Poems of Yang Zhiguang" was published in June 2004.
In August 2004, the Guangzhou Tianhe branch of "Yang Zhiguang Art Center" was completed.
In September 2004, the Panyu Luoxi branch of "Yang Zhiguang Art Center" was completed.
In December 2004, "Selected Poems Written by Yang Zhiguang" was published.
In September 2005, the third anniversary celebration of the establishment of "Yang Zhiguang Art Center" was held grandly at the Guangdong Museum of Art.
On January 29, 2013, Yang Zhiguang won the second "China Art Award Lifetime Achievement Award".
His works include "Methods of Chinese Painting Figures", "Yang Zhiguang Painting Collection", "Yang Zhiguang Calligraphy Collection", "Yang Zhiguang's Selected Poems", "Yang Zhiguang's Selected Poems", etc.