Tang Muli (1947, Shanghai) is an oil painter. He started painting as a child, but his true ambition was to become a physicist. During the Cultural Revolution, Tang was 'sent down' to work on a dairy farm in the Shanghai suburbs. There, he decided that being an artist could be an alternative career.

In 1972, Tang was commissioned to make a painting about acupuncture's usefulness as an anesthetic in surgery. He painted mostly in the evenings, after his day job of shovelling fodder. The resulting painting was well received, exhibited in the National Exhibition in Beijing, 1972, and reproduced as a poster. After this success, Tang was allowed to work as an artist full-time.

From 1979-1981, he was a postgraduate at the Central Art Academy. He later worked in the Art Department of Shanghai University. He now resides in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.