Born in Xi’an, Danwen Xing studied painting at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts and then at the Central academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Later, she taught herself photography.

In 1998, she went to New York on a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council, studied at the School of Visual Arts, and earned a Master of Fine Art in photography and multimedia.

Danwen is one of the rare internationally recognized women among Chinese contemporary artists. Her works project a strong but sensitive view of society and have attracted attention for more than ten years at exhibitions in Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, China,and the United States.

Many of her artworks are in the collections of important museums worldwide— including the Metropolitan Museum, SF MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Centre Pompidou—as well as in private collections.