Niu Xiaoming was born in December 1942 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. She began her higher education in 1959 at Tangshan Railway Institute (now Southwest Jiaotong University), majoring in electric locomotive engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and graduated in 1964. Following graduation, she undertook an internship at the Tianjin Locomotive and Rolling Stock Parts Factory before joining the Chengdu Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works, where she served successively as a technician and engineer from 1965 to 1984.[2][3]
In 1984, Niu transitioned to academia at Southwest Jiaotong University, where she held positions including lecturer, associate professor, deputy director of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and assistant to the university president. From 1992 to 1993, she was a visiting scholar at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the United States. In 1994, she was appointed vice president of Southwest Jiaotong University and promoted to professor.[4]
Alongside her academic career, Niu became active in public service and democratic party affairs. She joined the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang in March 1995. Between 1995 and 1998, she concurrently served as deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Education Commission. In 1997, she was elected chairperson of the RCCK Sichuan Provincial Committee, and later that year was appointed vice chairperson of the RCCK Central Committee.[5]
From 1998 to 2008, Niu served as vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress while continuing her academic appointment at Southwest Jiaotong University.[6] She was a deputy to the Ninth and Tenth National People's Congresses and became a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th National Committee of the CPPCC in March 2008. In December 2010, the RCCK accepted her request to step down from her positions as vice chairperson, standing committee member, and member of the Central Committee due to age.[7][8]