TAO Jing-shen was born in mainland China and moved to Taiwan in 1949. His father Tao Hsi-sheng was a major scholar-politician. Tao got his bachelor and master’s degree at Taiwan University, and obtained PhD at University of Arizona, majoring in History. He was Professor of the History Department of Taiwan University, Professor emeritus of Chinese history at University of Arizona and Correspondence Research Fellow at Academia Sinica, Chair Professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Visiting Professor of Soochow University.

TAO specialized in medieval Chinese Inner Asian history, particularly the Song dynasty, Liao dynasty, and Jin dynasty (1115–1234). Major academic publications include: The Jurchen in Twelfth-Century China: A Study of Sinicization, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1976; Two Sons of Heaven: Studies of Sung-Liao Relations, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1988; Excursions in Chinese Culture: Festschrift in Honor of William R. Schultz, co-authored with Marie Chan and Chia-lin Pao Tao, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2002.