He was born in Salatiga, Central Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) on August 21, 1928, the son of immigrants from Fujian, a coastal province of southeastern China.

In 1941, at the age of 13, he performed beyond all expectations at an important swimming competition in Indonesia, setting a new Indonesian record for the 200 metre butterfly and beating the Dutch champion.

[3] In the fall of 1951, at the age of 23, Wu represented Indonesia at the 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin, winning a silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke, with a time of 1:12.8.

This medal ceremony was the first time that the flag of the People's Republic of China was raised at an international sporting event.

After the conclusion of the Congress, Wu died in an airplane crash in 28 October 1954 midnight in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Soviet Union, at the age of 26 while traveling to Budapest to resume his training.