Tianyi is born and raised in Shanghai, China. With a multidisciplinary background in International Relations, Political Economy and Development Economics, Tianyi has developed her expertise on international infrastructure financing and governance.

Her work and research centre on how infrastructure financing within China-Africa context functions and can be better leveraged for financially, environmentally and socially sustainable projects. Previously, she has contributed to research and project development on impact investment, sustainable finance and public-private partnerships at Oversea Development Institute, UCL-IIPP, China-Africa Development Fund, UNIDO and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic.

Tianyi holds a MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a LLM from Fudan University. She is one of the four the winners of Rhodes Scholarship in 2021 from the China constituency.