Born on a Tianjin canal houseboat, Lin studied acrobatics and earned a living as an itinerant entertainer with her father.

Some unofficial histories of the Qing Dynasty said that Lin Heier was a pimp and even had a chaotic private life since childhood, which may not be very credible.

She recruited widows, prostitutes, beggars and peasants into her ranks and rejected well-to-do women as useless "lotus feet".

[1] In July 1900, the combined force of the Eight-Nation Alliance descended on Beijing and Tianjin and looted and pillaged the cities.

[7] Lin Hei'er was injured during the Battle of Tientsin and was captured along with the other leaders on July 14, 1900, when the imperial troops who secretly helped the rebels abandoned them to their fate.