Ya Ming was born in Anhui Province to an impoverished peasant family. He joined the Communist guerillas when he was fifteen and fought the Japanese and the Nationalists. After liberation, he studied art informally with several masters of traditional painting. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) he was sent to the countryside for several years of rehabilitation. His artistic star rose again in the 1980s when his work began to be widely shown throughout China.
