A native of Zhenhai County (鎮海縣) of Zhejiang Province, Professor Wu Fuhui (吳福輝) graduated from Anshan Normal College (鞍山師範學校), Liaoning in 1959 and went on to Peking University to complete his studies in the Modern Literature Section (現代文學) of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature in 1981.He was a language teacher at Anshan No. 10 Middle School (鞍山十中); a research group director, the deputy curator and a research fellow at the National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature (中國現代文學館); chief editor of the journal Zhongguo Xian Dai Wen Xue Yan Jiu (Modern Chinese Literature Studies) (中國現代文學研究); executive vice-president of the Modern Chinese Literature Association (中國現代文學研究會) and vice-president of the China Association of Mao Dun Studies (中國茅盾研究會). He began publishing his works in 1961 and became a member of the China Writers Association (中國作家協會) in 1991.

He authored the treatise Zhongguo Xian Dai Wen Xue San Shi Nian (30 years of Chinese Modern Literary History) (中國現代文學三十年) (collaborative work); Sha Ding Zhuan (Biography of Sha Ding) (沙汀傳); collections of critical essays titled Dai zhe Jia Suo de Xiao (Shackled Smile) (帶着枷鎖的笑), Qie Huan Yi Zhong Yan Guang (A Change of Perspective) (且換一種眼光) and Shen Hua Zhong de Bian Yi (Changes in the Deepening Process) (深化中的變異); a treatise on literary history Du Shi Xuan Liu Zhong de Hai pai Xiao Shuo (Haipai Novels in the Urban Whirlpool) (都市漩流中的海派小說); an academic essay Jinghai Wan Tiao (Gazing Upon Jinghai at Night) (京海晚眺); and the critiques Xiang Cun Zhongguo de Wen Xue Xing Tai (Contemporary Chinese Satirical Novels at Early Stage of Maturation and Literary Forms in Rural China) (鄉村中國的文學形態). His critique Xian Dai Bing Tai Zhi Shi She Hui de Ji Zhi Feng Ci (Wit and Satire in the Dysfunctional Knowledge-based Society in the Modern Age) (現代病態知識社會的機智諷刺) was awarded the Shi Yue (October) (十月) magazine’s literary award in 1982;  another work Da Lu Wen Xue de Jing Hai Chong Tu Gou Zao (Analyzing the Jinghai Conflict in the Chinese Mainland Literary Scene) (大陸文學的京海衝突構造), won the Shanghai Literature Award in 1990. Also, the revised edition of Zhongguo Xian Dai Wen Xue San Shi Nian (30 Years of Chinese Modern Literary History) (中國現代文學三十年) won the inaugural Wang Yao Academic Award (王瑤學術獎) in 2002.