She is accused of leading one of Africa's biggest ivory smuggling rings, responsible for more than 700 elephant tusks worth $2.5m (£1.7m) illegally leaving Tanzania for the Far East.
Ms Yang denies all charges and her trial is set to begin in Dar es Salaam on Monday.
So what do we know about the woman dubbed the "Ivory Queen" and what exactly is she accused of?
The war on elephants
Successful businesswoman
Originally from Beijing, Ms Yang first went to Tanzania in the 1970s. She was one of the first Chinese students to graduate in Swahili and worked as a translator for Tazara, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway project that China was helping to fund and build.
According to China Daily, after the railway was completed in 1975 she returned to Beijing to work in the government's foreign trade department.
It wasn't until 1998 that she decided to set up business in Tanzania. In fact, she set up two.
She rented a two-storey building in downtown Dar-es-Salaam, opening a Chinese restaurant on the ground floor and establishing an investment company, Beijing Great Wall Investment, on the floor above.
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