Han Meilin, born in 1936 in Ji’nan, Shandong Province and enrolled in 1995 in China Central Academy of Fine Arts (later renamed as Central Academy of Arts and Design), is a senior arts professor at Tsinghua University, Deputy Chairman of the Academic Committee of the university, and a doctoral supervisor at the graduate institute of the Chinese National Academy of Arts. He works concurrently as a fellow at the China Central Institute for Culture and History, Chair of the Ceramic Arts Committee of China Artists Association, Vice President of the United World Chinese Association, and a member of China Writers Association.

He is known as an industrious explorer and practitioner of art, with an active presence in the fields of painting, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, designing and writing. He dedicates himself to representing the essence of traditional Chinese culture and folk art in modern art forms. Blending perfectly Eastern and Western styles of art creation, he has produced a great number of vivid paintings and sculpture works. His free style of calligraphy and imposing city sculptures are his signature.

In 1980, he held solo exhibitions in 21 cities in the United States and was given the “Golden Key” of the city of San Diego as an honorary citizen; in the same year his cartoon The Fox and The Hunter won the Best Fine Arts Prize of the fourth Zagrab International Cartoon & Animation Festival in Yugoslavia. In 1983, six of his works were elected as the UN’s Christmas card pictures. In 2003, he was granted the honor of “special contribution to world art” by the World Artists Association. In 2004, he won the “world art master prize” and the President’s Award for Educational Excellence of the former US president George Bush. In 2008, he was the head designer of Fuwa, the mascots of Beijing Olympic Games. In 2011, the Global Times named him “the Most Globally-watched Chinese Figure”. The Chinese Ministry of Culture awarded him “Lifetime Achievements in Chinese Art and Culture”. He held a solo show in the National Museum of China. In 2012, his sculptures themed “mother and son” was given the patent golden prize by the World Intellectual Property Organization. In 2013, China began to celebrate Han Meilin Day on 21 December. In 2015, he was named UNESCO’s Artist for Peace, the first Chinese artist to be given this title. In 2016, he launched “Meilin's world-Han Meilin Art Global Tour Exhibition”, showcasing traditional Chinese culture and paying homage to the Renaissance in Venice, Beijing, Paris, Liechtenstein, and Seoul. He received honorary fellowship from Venice International University. Han Meilin Art Galleries have been established in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Yinchuan. He was invited multiple times to Japan and India to engage in culture exchange and promote art education.

Han is devoted to philanthropy, donating at home and abroad to disaster relief and educational programs. He has donated to more than a dozen “Hope Primary Schools” in China. He has also given thousands of his works to the government to encourage cultural and art development and the preservation and renewal of traditional culture.

On 27 March 2019, for his artistic achievements and outstanding contribution to the development of Chinese art, he was recognized as the Lifetime Achievements Award of You Bring Charm to the World Awards.