Ding Liren, born in 1930 in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, is a professor at the College of Design and Art, Shanghai University of Technology, and a guest professor at Guangdong University of Technology. Although Ding never received formal academic training in fine arts, he developed an early and distinct aesthetic approach that deliberately avoids adherence to any single artistic school. Instead, he draws inspiration equally from diverse painting traditions and folk art forms.

His works are held in the collections of major institutions such as the National Art Museum of China, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Shanghai Art Museum, and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macau. In recent years, Ding Liren has exhibited both in China and internationally, including at the Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne (Switzerland), the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, Platform China in Beijing, and the Guangdong Museum of Art.