Born in the Yunan Province of Kunming, China, Shang Ding has devoted his life to the depiction of rural China and its people. Growing up during the Cultural Revolution, he encountered many hardships including the political arrest and detainment of his parents for three years. At seventeen, he joined the army and maintained his pursuit of fine art by painting at night while others were sleeping. During this period, he developed a deep understanding of human nature, realizing that oppression strengthens character.
         In 1974, Shang Ding’s work was discovered by Mao Zedong’s wife and the professors at the Central Art Academy in Beijing which launched his career in China. Soon thereafter, he received his Masters degree from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art and became an Associate Professor at the Peoples Liberation Academy of Art and began to lecture at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts.
         Currently, Shang Ding is highly acclaimed in China as an accomplished oil painter and professor of fine art. Several publications which cite great Chinese painters since the 1700’s have referenced him. For many years, he documented the Cultural Revolution and Chinese Army Life, creating a group of rare paintings. Major Chinese and American museums have collected his work. Since 1988, he has lived in the United States where his paintings capture a reverence for the sanctity of human life and a deep appreciation for the subtler aspects of nature’s beauty.