In 1945, he entered an art college in Hangzhou, but dropped out to join the nationalist army in the struggle against the communists.
He can be grouped with anti-communist writers or the soldier writers; his fiction displays an interest in the impact of modernity on ordinary people and in the clash of social forces.
However, Chu Hsi-ning, unlike many Chinese writers of the 1930s, was a conservative.
His stories reinforce traditional communal values and a morally Christian worldview.
"Dawn" was adapted into a 1968 film directed by Sung Tsun-shou and produced by Li Han-hsiang, starring Peter Yang.