After growing up in Shenyang China, for many years Ying had been a university lecturer in academic English. Ying was awarded a Master's degree in linguistics with great distinction by VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) in Brussels in 2007.

 

However, her greatest passion has always been in visual arts especially photography and this has taken her away from lecturing and into this new direction.  she is currently living in England and is studying an MFA photography at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey. Ying's main areas of photographic interest are documentary and travel photography.