Niu was born in Luancheng, Hebei Province, in March 1966. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in April 1985 and began his career in July 1988 after graduating from the Department of Sociology at Nankai University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in law.[1]
After graduation, Niu began working at the Tianjin Daily, where he successively served as a sports reporter, deputy director of the Sports Department, and editor-in-chief of the Fans newspaper. From 1999 to 2007, he held several leadership positions at Tianjin Daily, including head of Tianjin Daily’s newly established Daily News and later as deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper and the Tianjin Daily Newspaper Group. In 2008, he was appointed president and Party secretary of the Tianjin Daily Newspaper Group.[2]
In December 2010, Niu joined the People's Daily as director of its Local News Department. Between 2015 and 2017, he served as vice chairman and president of People.cn Co., Ltd., a listed subsidiary of People's Daily. During this time, he was also elected vice president of the All-China Journalists Association.[3] From 2017 to 2018, he was deputy editor-in-chief of People's Daily Overseas Edition, and later became a member of the editorial board and editor-in-chief of the Overseas Edition.[4]
In October 2018, Niu was transferred to Shaanxi Province, where he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and head of its Publicity Department, while continuing to hold the position of vice president of the All-China Journalists Association.[5] In December 2020, he was appointed deputy director of the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and the Cyberspace Administration of China. Niu was a delegate to the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and serves as president of the second council of the China Federation of Cyberspace Social Organizations.[6]