Xiao-Yen Wang graduated with the 1982 class of the Beijing Film Academy, the Academy's first open class after the Cultural Revolution (known as China's "Fifth Generation" of filmmakers). She majored in art direction and worked as a studio art director in Beijing and Chang Chun, Manchuria, until 1985, when she came to the United States. In 1989 she co-founded The Beijing-San Francisco Film Group with whom she has written and directed The Blank Point (1991), The Monkey Kid (1995) and I'm seducible (2006).