During the Cultural Revolution, she was part of production teams performing manual labour in rural Beijing.
She is considered a "homegrown" Beijing establishment politician, having spent her entire career in the capital.
On November 11, 2015, Lü Xiwen was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for "serious violations of regulations".
The party's internal investigation concluded that Lü "violated political rules, trivialized policies and the direction of the party centre, formed factions of her own, resisted investigation, did not honestly report her own activities to the [investigating] organization, interfered in the personnel decisions of her previous area of oversight [assumed to be Xicheng District], lost control of her staff, violated the Eight-point Regulation, frequented private clubs; interfered with the market economy, interfered with law enforcement; violated lifestyle discipline, lived a life of luxury and pleasure seeking.
Cutting Tool Company was founded initially with the intent of bringing ISCAR Metalworking products to China.