[3][4][5] Scholar Jinhua Jia, however, contends that the label of courtesan is a misunderstanding derived from information added in later editions to slander her.

These are however salacious in detail: it reports she had an affair with Wen Tingyun, lived a scandalously promiscuous life, and was executed by decapitation[3] at the age of 28[9] for allegedly strangling her maid, Luqiao, to death.

[10] Yu Xuanji is distinctive for the quality of her poems, including many written in what seems to be a remarkably frank and direct autobiographical style; that is, using her own voice rather than speaking through a persona.

[9] In 1984 the Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong made a film about her life entitled 唐朝豪放女 (An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty), starred Pat Ha and Alex Man.

[13] In 1988, the Asia Television Limited in Hong Kong filmed an anthology drama series about her life, titled 歷代奇女子 (Those Famous Women in Chinese History), starred Bonnie Ngai, Pat Poon and Kingdom Yuen Yu Xuanji is the subject of the 1915 short story Gyogenki by Japanese author Mori Ōgai.