Xiao Ying was born in 1962. He graduated from Peking University and received his Ph.D. in philosophy. He also completed a two-year study in the post-doctoral program on literature in Peking University. He is currently a professor, Ph.D. student supervisor, Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University.

His major research fields are aesthetics and the contemporary culture in China. He was a visiting-professor in the Department of Chinese literature-history-philosophy, Bonn University in Germany. He, as a Summer Fellow, visited University of Cambridge in the summer of 2010. He has been elected to “The supporting program of excellent scholars in the new century sponsored by the Ministry of Education” in 2007.

He has taken charge of several projects sponsored by the National Social Science Foundation and Ministries. He is currently working on the project of “Artistic conception and modern life” from the National Social Science Foundation.

He published four books. He has also published many articles in academic journals, such as Chinese Social Sciences, Philosophy Study. His book Introduction to Chinese and Western Art has won the Prize of “Excellent textbooks on higher education awarded by Beijing Municipal Government” in 2006.