Tian Chengping, a native of Daming, Hebei Province, was born in 1945. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1964 and graduated from the Department of Civil Architecture of Tsinghua University in 1968.

He once served as secretary of the Chinese Communist Youth League of the Beijing Petrochemical Plant, deputy secretary of the CPC Committee of Qianjin Chemical Plant under Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Co., deputy secretary of the CPC Committee of Yanshan Petro-Chemical Co., and secretary of CPC Xicheng District Committee of Beijing.

In 1988, he was appointed deputy secretary of CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee and served as vice-governor and acting governor of Qinghai Province since 1992. In January 1998, he was elected secretary of CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of Qinghai Provincial People's Congress. On June 11, 1999, he took the post of secretary of CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee. He is a member of the 15th CPC Central Committee.

On July 1, 2005, he was appointed minister of labour and social security.