Wu lived in the midst of poverty in a dilapidated home with broken tiles.
Members of the local community still attempted to uphold old standards of education and culture.
It is popular to view Wu, and others of his station, as hermits in protest against the newly established Manchu regime.
Among Wu's associates were seal carvers who came to the attention of the scholar Zhou Lianggong.
Zhou would publish a collection of their biographies, the Yinren Zhuan (印人传).