Jin Xuechen (1904-1996) was born in Jiading, near Shanghai. From an early age on, he showed a talent for painting. In 1922, he joined the painting department of the Commercial Press in Shanghai. In 1925, he joined the Zhiying Studio, where his cooperation with Li Mubai started. The two soon became partners, a partnership that lasted for several years. The two created many commercial calendar posters together, although they would sign separately: Jin would paint the clothes and accompanying scenery, while Li would sketch the human figures. Together with Jin Meisheng, they were known as the "Three Pillars of Calendar Posters". Jin combined watercolors and traditional Chinese painting, and wielded the paint brush as easily as the air brush.

After 1949, Jin joined the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Artists Association. In 1954, he and Li were contracted on a special basis by the Shanghai Poster Publishing House, which later merged with the Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House (上海人民美术出版社, Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe), one of the main producers of propaganda posters. In 1956, the Publishing House requested him and Li to establish the Mubai Painting Studio to train young painters.