Liang Jihai (1930) is from Yan'an, Shaanxi Province. He worked in the North Shaanxi Cultural Workers' Troupe and the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Federation from 1948 to 1952. In 1956, he graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a major in painting and worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Art History.
In 1959, he was transferred to the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts to engage in art theory research. In 1975, he was transferred to the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts Research Institute. He has served in the editorial committee of Shaanxi Literature and Art (陕西文艺), as editor-in-chief of Shaanxi Pictorial (陕西画报), as editor of Art History and Theory (美术史论), and (co-)authored several publications on modern and ancient Chinese art.