[5] Ming applied for admission to the Shanghai Art & Design School, but failed the oral test due to his stuttering problem.
[6][7] Ming then enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts of Dijon in September 1981, where he met French conceptual artist Sylvia Bossu.
[6] Ming is also known for his "epic-sized" portraits of Bruce Lee, Pope Jean-Paul II, Barack Obama, Mona Lisa, or his father.
[4][6][3] In 2006, his monumental portrait of Dominique de Villepin, then the French First Minister, was exhibited at the Grand Palais, and has been interpreted as a "half-reverent, half-ironic tribute to the ego of politicians.
[6] In 2019 Ming exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay and headed the project "Yan Pei-Ming/Courbet, corps-à-corps" (English: "Coubert: Face-to-Face"), displaying his works along with those of Gustave Courbet at the Petit Palais.