She entered politics after practicing medicine for 27 years, serving as vice-mayor of Beijing, chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, Vice Chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

[2][3] Her father He Siyuan was the French-educated education minister of Shandong Province, and her mother was a Frenchwoman who adopted the Chinese name He Yiwen (何宜文).

[4] After Japan invaded China in 1937, He Siyuan led a guerrilla operation in Shandong to fight the enemy.

On 31 December, the Italian authorities arrested Yiwen and the children and handed them to the Japanese, who held them as hostages and demanded He Siyuan's surrender.

He rejected the demand, condemned Japan and Italy's breach of international law through diplomatic channels, and held Italian missionaries in China as a bargaining chip.

In the early morning of 18 January 1949, two bombs exploded in the He residence, killing Luli's 12-year-old sister Lumei (何鲁美) and gravely injuring her mother.

[2][3] In 1999 she became president of the Central Institute of Socialism and honorary vice-president of the Red Cross Society of China.