Ren Hui was born in Nanjing, China in 1957. From 1977-1989 he made his living as a poet and was widely published in various Asian literature magazines.

Since 1989, Ren Hui has focused on the visual arts, creating papercuts, wood engravings, oil paintings, and since 2013, sculptural works in metal and paper. Besides international solo exhibitions, his works have been featured in international art fairs in the US, Germany, China, Austria, Spain and Portugal. From 1995 to 2011 Ren Hui’s artistic base was in Beijing, China, in Songzhuang. In 2014, after four years painting in Canada, Ren Hui returned to China, establishing a studio in Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton. From 2019 to 2024, he began to work once more in Beijing and Hong Kong, and maintained a studio in Ottawa, Canada, working between the two countries. He now lives and works from Perth, Ontario, Canada.

His work can be found in public and private collections, including that of Morgan Stanley Investment Bank, and the City of Ottawa Collection, in Canada’s national capital.