Just a child during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Zhaoming Wu left school at age eight when the government closed all schools. He spent his days copying comic books and studying Chinese brush painting from a book. Wu's mother, a doctor, recognized his talent. She asked a patient, a professor at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, to train her son who was twelve at the time.

After graduating high school, Wu worked as a graphic artist for an advertising agency. He also took classes in graphic design at Shanghai Light Industrial College. In 1979 he was one of 32 from a pool of 2000 applicants to be accepted to the Guangzhou Art Academy. There he studied oil painting Western style. He was greatly influenced by the school requirement to spend two months every year painting outdoors. During these study periods he traveled to remote villages and studied the people and their customs.

In 1983, soon after his graduation from art school, Wu entered the National Art Exhibition. He won high praise and much media attention for his entry, a scene from a village wedding. He became a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art where he taught for seven years. During this time he married fellow artist Qiuzhen Wei.

Eager to see the world, Wu moved to the United States where he studied at the Academy of Art College. Eventually he took a position teaching painting at the school. Wu currently lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.