Wu Yinxian (1900–1994) was born in Shuyang, Jiangsu province. In 1920, he entered Shanghai College of Fine Arts and learnt western painting. During this period, he taught himself photography while participating in exhibitions organized by local photographic societies.

Wu was also involved in film industry as early as the late 1930s, when he went to Yan’an to work as a cinematographer on a number of extremely popular - often leftist – films, such as Scenes of City Life (都市风光, 1935) by Yuan Muzhi; and Children of Troubled Times (风云儿女, 1935) by Xu Xingzhi. He established his reputation in the mid-1940s by photographing a series of portraits of Mao Zedong, which consequently prompted him to be part of the rare official party photographers.

Later on in the mid-1950s, he was appointed vice-principal of the Cinematography Department at the Beijing Film Academy, moved into colour photography in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and eventually came to work on a few large commissions for the government, notably the interiors of Party Headquarters.