Cao Yong (Chinese: 曹勇; born June 9, 1962 in Xinxian, Henan, China) is a Chinese artist whose work depicts Tibet. He spent a year alone in the mountains of Tibet and the paintings he produced were exhibited in Beijing in early 1989. He was subsequently arrested by the Chinese Authorities, with the Beijing Police burning seven of the paintings. He escaped with his fiancée Aya Goda to Japan.