Xiao Hong was born into a wealthy landlord family on June 1, 1911, the day of the Dragon Boat Festival in Hulan County (now Heilongjiang Province.

Her mother died when she was nine years old and she attended a girls school in Harbin in 1927, where she encountered the progressive ideas of the May Fourth movement as well as Chinese and foreign literature.

Her childhood was deeply influenced by two people: her father, apparently a difficult man who was cold and ruthless, and her grandfather, who was the only one in the family who understood her.

In her "Yong yuan de chong jing he zhui qiu" (Published in 1979) she writes, "Father often lost his humanity for the sake of greed.

[1] On the brink of collapse due to Wang Enjia's abandonment and desperate, Xiao Hong chose to write to the local newspaper for help.

[1] Xiao Hong's writing focuses on relational aspects of self — her connection to the community and others, as well as their shared emotions and experiences.

[1] She died during the chaos of wartime Hong Kong in the temporary hospital of St. Stephen's Girls' College on January 22, 1942.

[1] A biopic of Xiao Hong's life directed by Huo Jianqi, titled Falling Flowers, was released in 2012 in China.