Wu was born in 1931[3][4] into a prominent family in Shanghai, Republic of China, with her ancestral home in Heyuan, Guangdong province.
[4][5] At age six, Wu heard Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu from an American movie, and became determined to learn to play the piano.
[6][7] She won the first prize in Shanghai Children's Piano Contest after playing for only a year, and began studying with the Shanghai-based Italian musician Mario Paci at the age of ten.
[6] After the debut of the Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto in 1959, Wu was the first to make a piano arrangement for the work, and the first to perform it at the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China that year.
[citation needed] Wu married Yang Bingsun (杨秉荪), the lead violinist of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra, where she worked at.
[7][9] Wu was forced to divorce him in order not to be implicated,[9][10] but was still beaten by the Red Guards and suffered long-term injuries in her feet.