Born in 1963 in Cixi City, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, he obtained his B.Sc. in 1982 at Fudan University (Shanghai) and received his Ph.D. in 1987 at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing), then moved to the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (1987–89). He also received M.A. in 2011 from the University of Oxford (by resolution) and became a British citizen by naturalization in 2016.
