Professor Tang Yongli was born in Tangshan, Hebei Province in 1951. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Hebei Normal University in 1977 and stayed on as a teacher. In 1982, he entered the Chinese Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts for 2 years. In 1985, he was admitted to the Chinese Painting Department graduate department of China Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Tang stayed with the department to teach in 1987 and has served as the vice director of teaching in the Chinese Painting Department. Since 2000, he has taught in the Chinese Painting Department at CAFA, where he has served as deputy director of the Chinese Painting Department. Tang Yongli mentors doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in the Art Department at CAFA, he also mentors doctoral students at the Chinese National Academy of Arts. He serves as a part time mentor for doctoral students and acts as the director of Chinese Painting Department in Shanghai University Fine Arts College. Tang Yongli currently works and lives in Beijing.