He served as President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Founding Director of Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM), and Founding President of Fuzhou University, as well as high-ranking political positions including Chairman of the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress.

He received the Tan Kah Kee scholarship for four years and graduated from Xiamen University in 1934 with a degree in chemistry.

With the recommendation of Sugden, he was admitted to the California Institute of Technology in 1939, and studied structural chemistry under Linus Pauling, the future Nobel laureate.

[2] After the end of World War II, Lu turned down numerous employment opportunities in the United States, and returned to war-torn China in the winter of 1945.

[2][4] From 1960 to 1981, Lu was director of the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM), and vice president of Fuzhou University.