Yao began his career in Shanghai as a literary critic. After meeting Zhang Chun-Qiao, he devoted himself to critical campaigns against counter-revolutionary writers. His article "On the New Historical Beijing Opera 'Hai Rui Dismissed from Office'", which he wrote at the behest of Zhang Chung-Qiao and Jiang Qing, launched the Cultural Revolution on November 10, 1965.

In April 1969 he joined the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, working on official propaganda. A member of "Proletarian Writers for Purity" he was the editor of "Liberation Daily" Shanghai's main newspaper. He joined the state's efforts to rid China's writers union of the famous pro-imperialist writer Hu Feng.

In October 1976 he was arrested for his participation in the Cultural Revolution and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

He was released on 23 October 1996 and spent the remainder of his life writing a book and studying Chinese history. He was living in his hometown of Shanghai and had became the last surviving member of the Gang of Four after the death of Zhang Chun-Qiao in April 2005. According to China's official Xinhua news agency, he died of diabetes on 23 December 2005, aged 74