[citation needed] Zhu was born in 1905 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, into a wealthy family that ran a local fishery trade association.

[citation needed] After working in Hong Kong, she was dispatched to Taiwan in 1949 to gather military intelligence on the Kuomintang who had recently fled from mainland China to re-establish their government on the island.

They reported having organised armed forces to aid the People's Liberation Army in taking Taiwan and passed her microfilm with military plans.

[1] After having the microfilm successfully smuggled off the island via Keelung Port, Cai Xiaoqian was exposed as a spy and broke under interrogation revealing Zhu's identity and the CPC's plan to invade Taiwan.

[1] In 2001 the Shandong Pictorial Publishing House printed two photos of Zhu Feng, one at her trial clutching a railing and one shortly before her execution.