Ms. Lao An was born on 20 October 1929 in Changsha City, Hunan Province. After graduating from Tsinghua University, she began to work in 1949. From 1958 to 1988, she worked successively in Beijing and the State Economic and Trade Commission as technician, engineer, senior engineer, deputy director and director for electric power planning, design, technology and economic management work.
Since 1988, she has worked successively in Shanghai Investment Consulting Corporation and China International Engineering Consulting Corporation as deputy chief engineer, executive director and vice chairperson of the board of directors for project consulting and assessment with the title of senior engineer.