Growing up in China, Cui Fei witnessed radical, social and cultural change. After coming to the United States to study, nature has emerged as a primary theme in her paintings and installations. She is interested in mediating between East and West, rather than focusing on the contrast. Manuscript of Nature I, is part of a series that uses the calligraphic format to suggest language, but employs natural forms as universal elements that transcend nationality, culture and race. Actual leaves are embedded onto handmade paper, expressing a common language that is experienced, rather than read.

Cui Fei earned her undergraduate degree from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China. In 1998, she came to the United States to study for her MFA in painting at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA. Her first New York solo exhibition The Voice of the Voiceless was held at Gallery 456, in 2003. Her work has been included in group exhibitions including New Chinese Occidentilism, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, NY; Queens International 2004, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY; and The Drawn Page, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT. She participated in the Emerge Program at Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ, and the Artists in the Marketplace Program at the Bronx Museum of the Art. In 2000 she received a BRIO Award from the Bronx Council on the Arts.