Pan Yihang (1957) was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. He graduated from the China Academy of Art (formerly the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts) with a bachelor's degree in 1981. From 1982 to 1986, he taught at the Art Department of Hunan Normal University. In 1986, he went to the United States to study at the Ohio State University School of Art. In 1989, he graduated from the Graduate School of the Maryland Institute of Arts with a master's degree. From 1989 to 2000, he held several solo exhibitions in the United States and Taiwan.