In 1985, Ying was vice executive director of the Wuhu Municipal Fine

    Artists Association and entered the printmaking department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing for further training.

    In 1986, Ying visited Xidi Village for the first time. The attractive village is near Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province. It is a perfect place to see typical folk houses, where residents have lived for centuries. The village inspired Ying to create.

    In the following eight years, he made frequent visits to Xidi Village and created a series of prints in the name of the village. In 1989, two prints, “Xidi Village Series No. 2 and No. 11,” won the Ministry of Culture bronze prize at the Seventh National Fine Art Exhibition in Beijing. In 1991, Ying was awarded a gold prize for his “Xidi Village Series” by the Japan-China Print Award Foundation. In 1994, two prints, “The Repeated Xidi Village Series No. 1 and No. 3,” were awarded a prize for superb work at the Eighth National Fine Art Exhibition in Beijing.

    In 1995, Ying Tianqi Xidi Art Museum was established in Xidi Village and the artist was made an honorary permanent resident of the village. In 2000, the village was listed on UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage List.

    In 1998, at the invitation of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Ying moved to Shenzhen and began to teach at Shenzhen University.

    He spent three years, from 1999 through 2001, finishing his experimental performance art works, “Broken Black” and “Dream of Huizhou.”

    Later, Ying finished his installations and performance art works, “Grand Paper-cutting,” “Dialogue with Guanlan,” and “Dialogue with Wanke,” from 2004 until 2007.