Shanxing grew up in Yanggao and Hunyuan (counties of Datong, Shanxi), entered Xi'an Jiaotong University at 15 to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies in mechanical engineering, and afterwards taught at Beijing University of Chemical Technology before moving to the US for further engineering graduate study and teaching in 1991. He has since lived in Berkeley, CA, Piscataway, NJ, and Flushing, NY, among other cities. He has been reading and writing poetry since 2002. His first book "Mad Science in Imperial City" was the winner of 2006 Asian American Literary Award in Poetry.