A composer from Guangzhou, China. She was the first Chinese woman to complete a Master's degree in composition at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studied composition under Wu Zuqiang. In 1986, she went to Columbia University in the United States, studying composition under Chou Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky. She obtained her doctoral degree in composition in 1993. Since 2006, she has been a Professor of Composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her husband is the composer Zhou Long.

Regarding her musical compositions, she incorporates traditional Chinese culture, such as the timbres of folk instruments, rhythms of traditional dances, and poetic imagery, while utilizing Western music theory.