Born in Nanjing in 1916, Shui Hua studied to be an attorney at Fudan University in Shanghai.
[1] During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Shui made his way to the Yan'an where he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
[1] After the war, Shui became involved in theater while teaching eventually moving into filmmaking with his 1950 debut film, The White Haired Girl.
[1] Later in the decade, he directed the critically acclaimed The Lin Family Shop, based on a short story by the author Mao Dun.
However, upon China's re-emergence from the Cultural Revolution, Shui again began to direct films, including Regret for the Past (1981), based on a story by Lu Xun, and Blue Flowers (1984).