Raised in a prominent family in Hefei, Anhui province.

Attended westernized middle school and was taught at home by private teachers chosen by her grandmother. She received an intensive classical Chinese education, including kunqu opera.

Admitted to Peking University in 1934.

Met her esteemed calligrapher teacher and mentor, Shen Yinmo沈尹默 (1883–1971), one of the most influential calligraphers of twentieth-century China, during the WWII.

Met Hans Frankel (1916–2003), a German scholar of comparative literature and a Sinologist specializing in the study of Chinese poetry.

They married in 1948 and subsequently moved from China to the United States in 1949.

Best known for her small standard script (xiao kai 小楷).