[2] Chin was born in Malaysia and was raised in Singapore by his parents of whom his father was a Christian physician and had high expectations for his son.

Faye Kicknosway, who is a poet and visual artist,[5] was teaching this class and she became an important figure in Chin's early career.

She encouraged him to write and introduced him to R. Zamora Linmark and Lisa Asagi, who remained important supporters of his art throughout his life.

[6] In 1990 Justin Chin attended the first Outwrite Conference in San Francisco with economic support from the faculty advisor to the university's gay and lesbian group.

About this experience Justin Chin wrote: "Being at that conference showed me what was possible, that I could find myself in a continuum, a lineage that was grand and literary, that needed no elucidation or defense, no vindication or apologia.

Shortly after moving to San Francisco he started writing poems, essays, fiction and performance pieces to express his opinions in a less limited media.

His "performance pieces and writings articulate a lot of pains and angers at how queer Asians are invisibilized by gay white men and despised by straight Asian circles and communities"[3] and his work is often "unflinching, and frequently biting, commentary on racial stereotypes, racial tension, Asian-American identity, American consumerism, sexuality, and queer identity.

Literary critic Chris A. Eng argues that "Chin's poetry collection consciously evokes 'sweet pain' through depictions of shameful, queer sex to reframe and contest dominant modes of consuming Asian American culture.