Born in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China, in 1967, Wang Bing studied photography at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art and cinematography at Beijing Film Academy. He began his career as an independent filmmaker in 1999. Discovered in 2003, West of Tracks, an enormous documentary work of more than 9 hours, has garnered great success internationally. In addition to his feature documentaries, he is also active in video installation, fiction film and photography.

His work has been selected for presentation and competition in many film festivals where he has won a great number of awards. His documentaries have been released in theaters internationally. Acclaimed by critics and recognized as one of the most important Chinese artists, documentary makers and film directors of his time, he has been honored by retrospectives of his entire oeuvre in major museums, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris at the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique or at Documenta.