In 1990, Yiong began working for Yeh Chu-lan.[6] Yiong was appointed to the Hakka Affairs Council in 2001,[7] the year it was founded. By 2004, Yiong had become leader of the Democratic Progressive Party's Ethnic Affairs Department.[8] As director of the Ethnic Affairs Department, Yiong backed initiatives reaching out to Taiwanese indigenous people and those of Mainland Chinese descent.[9][10][11] During his tenure, the party passed the Resolution on Ethnic Diversity and National Unity,[12] and issued a report on Japanese rule in Taiwan.[13] In 2005, the DPP Ethnic Affairs Department produced a documentary about the sinking of the Taiping on 27 January 1949.[14][15] The Democratic Progressive Party nominated Yiong to contest the Miaoli County magistracy in 2005,[16] which he lost to Liu Cheng-hung. Yiong subsequently returned to the Department of Ethnic Affairs.[17] By 2009, Yiong had become the leader of the DPP Department of Social Movement.[18] In December of that year, he again sought the Miaoli County magistracy, which Liu Cheng-hung retained.[19] By 2011, Yiong was reappointed to the DPP's Ethnic Affairs Department.[20] The party backed his 2012 legislative bid in Miaoli.[21] During his own campaign, Yiong analyzed the Tsai Ing-wen presidential bid with regard to Hakka voters.[22][23] Yiong and other Hakka drew attention to the lack of promotion and resources devoted to the culture under the Ma Ying-jeou administration.[24] After losing the legislative election, Yiong worked for Thinking Taiwan, an organization affiliated with Tsai Ing-wen, as director of its Social Force Development Center.[25][26] By 2015, Yiong returned to work for the Democratic Progressive Party, serving as director of the Taiwan Academy for Democracy.[27][28] From 20 May 2016, Yiong served as deputy minister of the Hakka Affairs Council under Lee Yung-te.[2][29][30] Yiong replaced Lee as leader of the Hakka Affairs Council after Lee was named culture minister at the start of Tsai Ing-wen's second presidential term.[31][32][33]
Outside of the Democratic Progressive Party, Yiong has supported a number of causes as an activist. He was a member of the Culture and History Council at the Community Construction Society and the Alliance to Preserve Four Four South Village as a National Relic. Both organizations supported the preservation of Four Four South Village as a historic site.[34][35] Yiong's continued activism led to him becoming a founding member of Taiwan Friends of Tibet,[36] and Taiwan Friends of Uyghurs.[37] Yiong has served as the deputy chairman of Taiwan Friends of Tibet, and the executive director of the Deng Liberty Foundation.[38][39] While affiliated with Taiwan Friends of Tibet, Yiong called for the government to grant asylum to Tibetans in Taiwan,[40] distributed flyers at the Taipei Zoo,[41] participated in several commemorations of the 1959 Tibetan uprising,[42][43][44] and petitioned the Ma Ying-jeou presidential administration regarding human rights in Tibet.[45][46]
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