Yanling Lee Johnson was born in Beijing, China, November 1944. She first became interested in Herbs and Qigong at the age of three, watching her uncle treat his patients using herbs and Acupuncture. Her whole childhood, in fact, was spent in the Chinese Qigong community, bearing witness to people around her using Qigong and herbs to heal their internal and external illness, all the while reading and practicing on her own.

After coming to the United States, she saw the incomplete state of information concerning Qigong and Herbal Medicine. This inspired her research even further, translating both ancient and modern Chinese documents (thanks to more open policies with China), as well as writing her own books.