Lu Yu grew up in Hunan, China. She got her bachelor’s and first master’s degree in Chinese language and literature at Nanjing University in China, and then a second master’s degree in Chinese literature and teaching pedagogy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Before she joined Smith College, Yu taught Chinese to foreign students at all levels at UMass, Harvard Beijing Academy, Nanjing University, CET Academic Program, Foreign Services Institute of the U.S. State Department, Brandeis University, Brown University and the Princeton in Beijing Program. Her research interests include Chinese syntax, studying and translating Chinese poetry, and teaching method theory.