In 2008 she was made a vice-chair of the provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference. In January 2011 she joined the elite ranks of the provincial Party Standing Committee as provincial United Front chief, then in February 2013 was named party chief of Qinhuangdao. In March 2011 she was selected as the chief supervisor of the elections of the top officers of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In September 2015, she was named head of the propaganda department of Hebei province. In December 2017, in her first transfer outside of her home province, she was named head of the United Front Department of Sichuan.

In 2003 Tian took on her first major political role as deputy party chief of Tangshan (full department-level rank); she then obtained a graduate degree in management from Tianjin University. In 2005 she was named executive deputy head of the provincial United Front department, then became provincial director of human resources.

Tian was born in 1963 in Xingtai, Hebei. She graduated with a degree in Chinese at Hebei Teacher’s College (later merged into Hebei North University), graduating in 1984. She then joined the Communist Party of China. She took on local administrative positions in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang before becoming involved with the Communist Youth League organization in the province, serving successively as the Youth League leader in Shijiazhuang, then Hebei province.