Yang Qian was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in July 2000.

On August 12, 2019, Yang Qian won the championship in women’s 60-shot air rifle at the 2rd National Youth Games with an excellent score of 251.5. On November 15, 2019, Yang Qian won the gold medal of women’s 60-shot air rifle individual at the 14th Asian Shooting Championships with an excellent score of 251.6.

On July 24, 2021, on the first day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Yang Qian won the gold medal in women’s 10m air rifle with a score of 251.8, the first gold medal for Team China at the Games; on July 27, Yang Qian and Yang Haoran as a pair won the gold medal in shooting 10-meter air rifle mixed team, Yang Qian herself becoming the first athlete to win two gold medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as well as the first athlete of the Chinese shooting team who won two gold medals at the same Olympic Games.