[1][2] A native of Penghu County, Hsu earned a doctorate in history from National Taiwan University.
[12] In 2014, Hsu lent support to a petition against revisions to high school history textbooks backed by the Ministry of Education, stating of the Ma Ying-jeou presidential administration, "They just do whatever they want.
[3][15] In materials written for review by the Legislative Yuan, she opined that the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall should remain standing to serve as a reminder of past authoritarianism, with its statue of Chiang Kai-shek moved to the Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park, suggesting an arts library or human rights museum in its place.
[17][18] Hsu's book The Compilation of Historical Data from the Secrecy Bureau on the 228 Incident, meant to "unveil the truth" about the uprising, has not yet been released.
[19] Her completed work includes a biography of Chuang Shu-chi,[20] a book about the March 2 incident [zh] in Chiayi,[21] and the foreword to the 2015 edition of Lin Hsien-tang's Travel Writings from around the Globe.