Yang Gang (1946) was born in Huaidian Town, Henan Province. In 1963, he was admitted to the middle school attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts to learn the basics of Western painting. In 1969, he was sent to the countryside to take part in herding on the Uzhumuqin grasslands in Inner Mongolia. After he returned to school in 1970, he was sent to a Seven May Cadre School. In 1973, he went to work at the Xilinhot Cultural Center in Inner Mongolia. In 1978, he was admitted to the postgraduate class of the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Since 1981, he has been working in the Beijing Painting Academy.