According to the family tree records, the Yang family of Wuxi is originally a branch of the Yang family generals from the Northern Song Dynasty, who have served in government for generations, "all having a reputation for kindness." Yang Lingfa was born in the thirteenth year of the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty (1887). Her grandfather, Yang Tingjun, was a successful candidate in the imperial examination during the Qing Dynasty and served as the county magistrate of Feicheng, Shandong. Yang Tingjun married into another prominent local family, the Hou family. Under the management of Lady Hou, the Yang family thrived in both political and business circles, relying on connections with figures like Li Hongzhang. Yang Lingfa's father, Yang Zongji, served as an instructor in Liyang County, while her uncle, Yang Zonglan, was a successful candidate in the same examination as Li Hongzhang and served as the governor of Shanxi. Her third uncle, Yang Zonghan, was the general manager of the Shanghai Machine Weaving Bureau, and her elder brother, Yang Weiyun, served as the Deputy Minister of Finance during the era of Li Yuanhong in the Republic of China and was also a well-known poet.

Yunxuan Garden, the former residence of Yang Weiyun

Yang Lingfa was quite renowned for her painting and also had a great reputation in poetry. Throughout her life, she produced many excellent works, publishing "Three Crossings of the Pacific" (a collection of poetry and paintings by Professor Yang Lingfa) and authoring two volumes of "Long Rivers and Distant Mountains: A Collection of Poems," as well as a memoir titled "Cuiwei Mountain." In addition, she was proficient in multiple languages, including English, French, and Japanese, and translated a poetry collection by Canadian poet Stephen, earning the praise of being "rare among women."

Yang Lingfa was the eighth daughter of Yang Zongji. From a young age, she was influenced by her family, well-versed in classics and history, and had a passion for classical literature. At the age of five, she had works exhibited in an art show, and at eight, she became a student of the famous Wuxi artist Wu Guandai, diligently studying painting. She later attended Wuben Girls' School in Shanghai, where she excelled academically and won the championship in the high jump at the Shanghai Student Union Sports Meeting, as well as a scholarship from her school. After graduation, she taught at a primary school in Rugao, Jiangsu, and at Nanjing Women's Normal School. By this time, Yang Lingfa was in her twenties, possessing both talent and beauty, attracting numerous suitors. Even the famous industrialist Zhang Qian from Nantong sought a match for his son through a matchmaker, but inspired by the poem of Qiu Jin, "Even heroes have their female counterparts," Yang Lingfa was determined to pursue her art and put aside personal matters for the time being.

Yang's mother held deep traditional beliefs and chose a husband for her daughter against her wishes, selecting Li Cheng, the direct grandson of the famous philanthropist Li Jinyong from Wuxi, who was a descendant of the renowned Northern Song anti-Jin minister Li Gang. At that time, Li Cheng lived in Changzhou and was also from a prominent family. Yang Lingfa, compelled by her mother's orders, did not resist and married Li Cheng. On their wedding night, she had an open and honest conversation with her husband, expressing her aspirations in painting and stating that if she were to bear children and manage the household, she would inevitably achieve nothing. The groom was understanding, recognized her ambitions, and readily agreed. Soon after, she left Changzhou, and from then on, the two parted ways. They occasionally communicated but never lived together.

In the third year of the Xuantong era (1911), she went to Beijing with her elder brother Yang Weiyun (who served as a deputy in the Ministry of Finance during the late Qing Dynasty) and had the opportunity to study under the literary elder Fan Zengxiang (Fan Shan), meeting figures like Chen Shizeng, Lin Qinnan, and Lian Quan, receiving guidance and instruction from renowned masters, and her painting and poetry skills improved significantly. Qi Baishi, upon seeing her copy Chen Shizeng's paintings, could not help but exclaim in admiration, immediately writing on her painting: "Opening the map can confuse Shizeng, capturing the spirit of the An'yang stone chamber, those with aspirations underground should smile, and those with a pure heart in a corrupt world will have successors." Soon after, she was recommended to the Palace Museum as a painter, where she had the opportunity to observe and copy masterpieces from various dynasties. She painted for the four imperial concubines of Emperor Puyi and Emperor Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, and she lamented the destruction of the Summer Palace by the Eight-Nation Alliance, thus creating miniature models of the "Grand View Garden" and "Summer Palace." Concerned that the portraits of emperors and empresses from various dynasties might be lost, she copied nearly a hundred as replicas.

In September of the twelfth year of the Republic of China (1923), a major earthquake struck the Kanto region of Japan. She was elected as a representative of the art community to travel east and donated a batch of paintings and calligraphy to the earthquake victims. In the fourteenth year of the Republic of China (1926), she visited the United States to attend the Philadelphia Exposition. Upon learning that the Shenyang Palace still had many exquisite paintings of emperors and empresses and famous calligraphy, she resigned from her position as a painter at the Beijing Palace Museum. In 1927, with the support of the renowned scholar Jin Liang, the director of the Palace Museum, she held an exhibition of her copied portraits of emperors at the Shenyang Palace Museum, which received widespread acclaim. She was then appointed as a painter and the principal of the Northeast Special Zone Art School, and later held an art exhibition in Harbin, attracting the attention of Chinese and Russian gentlemen.

After the September 18 Incident in 1931, she wrote the lines "The Kanto region lightly discards a thousand honors, but I will not yield to Japan, my integrity remains firm" to express her determination. In 1934, to escape the entanglements of the Japanese and to protect the national treasures she had cherished for many years from falling into enemy hands, she sought the help of her former English teacher, Lord Fei Wei Bo (who worked at the British consulate), and the German consul Moer, intending to transfer the national treasures out of the country, first from Moscow to Germany, where she held exhibitions in Munich and Berlin. Just as her exhibition was concluding and she was about to leave Germany, news arrived that Berlin was to host a national joint art exhibition. The German cultural department, aware of the success of her exhibition, formally invited her to participate. Yang Lingfa had already packed her works for shipment, but out of courtesy, she could only participate, so she hurriedly painted a few flower and bird paintings for the exhibition. On that day, Hitler personally cut the ribbon and took a liking to Yang Lingfa's work, wanting to buy it on the spot and asked for her signature. Yang Lingfa agreed to sign and send it later.

Her painting "Quail and Bamboo" depicted several green bamboo stalks, with two quails glaring at each other, fighting among the green branches and leaves. Upon returning to her hotel, she inscribed a poem titled "To the War Demon" in the upper left corner of the painting. Hitler was very fond of this painting, but due to his ignorance of Chinese, it took him several days to realize that the painting was a condemnation of him as a war monger and a demon. Enraged, he ordered Yang Lingfa to be expelled from the country. Yang had already anticipated the consequences and had quietly left the country by plane. A Chinese female painter bravely confronting Hitler in a foreign land was reported by American newspapers, praising Yang Lingfa for her love of peace and her strong anti-fascist spirit.

In the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China (1936), she, over fifty years old, went to Canada to participate in the national art exhibition held in Vancouver. The following year, she decided to settle in the United States, where she taught painting and Chinese at several universities. After retiring in 1965, she moved to Carmel, California, where she established the "Yang Lingfa Art Institute," continuing to teach traditional Chinese painting. Yang Lingfa adhered to "singleness" and never married. In her later years, she longed for her homeland and was deeply concerned about her country. She treasured extremely valuable cultural relics, such as a jade vase from the Song Dynasty, a hollowed-out jade and gold flower vase from the Ming Dynasty, and a crystal bowl. Zhang Qun, a senior advisor to the "Presidential Office" in Taiwan, sent someone to contact her, urging her to spend her later years in Taiwan. She responded to Zhang with a painting titled "Ink Plum," depicting an old plum tree swaying in the cold wind, with a few withered branches and petals falling in the fierce wind, inscribing a poem: "I live abroad as a recluse, every time I see leaves fall, I think of returning to my roots. Beneath Xiaojishan, my ancestors' tomb is there, I wish to return and rely on my parents' spirits."

The line "Beneath Xiaojishan, my ancestors' tomb is there" refers to Guanshe Mountain on the west side of Lake Li in Wuxi. This is the villa garden built by her ancestor, the late Ming recluse Yang Ziyuan. Following Guanshe Mountain eastward is Guanshe Villa, where the Yang family ancestral hall is built against the mountain and facing the water, hidden among the trees. Crossing a deep ravine leads to the Yang family cemetery, where Yang Lingfa's parents are buried. This poem expresses the painter's desire to return to her homeland. Initially, due to the lack of diplomatic relations between China and the United States and the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, she regrettably could not return to her country.

On the night of September 5, 1978, 92-year-old Yang Lingfa collapsed in her own studio in Carmel, leaving the world with regrets. As there were no relatives or friends by her side, she was not discovered until the next day by a neighbor. In 1982, Yang Lingfa's nephew, Yang Tongyi, made a special trip to the United States to bring her remains back to Wuxi, where she was buried in the Yang family cemetery at the foot of Guanshe Mountain. In the same year, a ceremony was held at the Su Fang Studio of the Palace Museum to honor the donation of cultural relics by Ms. Yang Lingfa. The cultural relics she treasured were "returned in perfect condition," and Yang Tongyi and his wife also donated 15 portraits of emperors and empresses that she had copied in her early years, along with her poetry and calligraphy, to the Wuxi Museum. These were the painter's final wishes, hoping that her spirit would find peace in the afterlife.