She attended the Language and Literature Department at the Renmin University of China, where she majored in literary theory.

In November 1988, she published an article in Hong Kong's Mirror Monthly, which was described by Beijing's Mayor Chen Xitong as a "political program for turmoil and rebellion".

[5] Gao was arrested again in October 1993, and in November 1994 was sentenced to six years, accused of having "published state secrets".

[11] In April 2015, Beijing's high court convicted Gao of leaking state secrets and sentenced her to seven years in prison.

[16] German president Joachim Gauck, on his first state visit to China in March 2016, raised the plight of Gao with the Chinese government.

While incarcerated, Gao Yu received the WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers) Golden Pen of Freedom and the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation) Courage in Journalism Award in 1995.