Born in Xining, China, in 1961. Lives and works in Beijing. He was graduated in 1982 from the University of Qinghai (painting department).

Mu Chen, his wife, studied photojournalism at the University of Jilin (1992) then at the People's University (1995).

The family – a subject central to contemporary Chinese design – is at the heart of the couple's work. The major work of Shao Yinong and Mu Chen is a 45 metre long roll: the Family Register. This has been the subject, notably, of exhibitions at the Courtyard Gallery in Beijing, in 2002, at the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, and at the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris. Their work features in the collections of the JGS Foundation and of the International Center of Photography, both in New York.


Shao Yinong et Mu Chen ont exposé aux Rencontres d'Arles en 2003: Shao Yinong et Mu Chen à l'Atelier de Chaudronnerie. They also took part in the collective exhibition Chai-na / China at the Atelier de Mécanique en 2007.