Zayra Tu’er Hong was born in 1980 in Urumqi, the capital of the Muslim Xingjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. She is a member of Chinas ancient Uyghur minority. Inspired by her fathers drawings and clay sculptures, she developed an early love for the Arts. And, encouraged by her father, she began to paint and draw. In 1998, Zayra decided to become a professional painter and studying Fine Arts at Xingjiang University. While at university she received the prize for the most promising young artist - the first ever female winner. Zayra graduated in July 2003 with a Masters and as the best of her class. Following graduation she worked for three years as an illustrator at an advertising agency in Urumqi. In 2006, Zayra decided to continue her studies and to fulfil a longstanding ambition to study art in Europe and visit some of its famous museums. In Beijing she was granted a student visa for France. After a short course in French ( 2006/2007) at the Paul Valery University at Béziers, she applied to the Ècole Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier. Impressed by Zayras work, the university granted her immediate admission. Since her arrival in Europe, Zayra has staged two exhibitions; one in the south of France and one in Basel Switzerland. Her paintings are currently attracting considerable interest and are selling in numbers sufficent to comfortably finance her stay.