She grew up in poverty but made a name for herself in the drama and film industry of Shanghai before the Second Sino-Japanese War, and then in the wartime capital Chongqing.

Her father tried to sell her to repay his debts, but she escaped and worked as an escort and dancing girl at a club on East Chang'an Street.

[disputed – discuss][1][3] She was also introduced to Chen Yumei, the star actress of Tianyi, who gave Shu a minor role in the film A Girl Named Yunlan (芸兰姑娘, 1932).

[2] When Tian Han formed the new Spring and Autumn Troupe, Shu Xiuwen soon joined it and became its main actress.

She starred in Tian Han's National Survival and Yang Hansheng's Raging Waves of the China Sea.

[4] Shu joined the mass exodus of refugees for the wartime capital Chongqing, where she worked for the government-run China Film Studio.

[2] From 1941 to 1946, Shu devoted herself to performing anti-Japanese and patriotic stage plays such as Thunderstorm and Sunrise by the famous playwright Cao Yu.

[2] Her acting skills established her reputation as one of China's "Four Great Actresses" of the time, together with Bai Yang, Qin Yi, and Zhang Ruifang.

[1] In this period she starred in the films Female Driver and Li Shizhen, and performed in the stage plays Rickshaw Boy and Guan Hanqing.

She was able to portray a wide range of roles both in film and on stage, including a rural woman forced to kill her newborn child because of abject poverty (Killing of an Infant), a naive but kind girl (Killer), and a polished but cruel social butterfly (The Spring River Flows East).