Tu was born in Fujian. Tu joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1934 when Mao Zedong held a rally in the village, calling for the rice fields Tu worked on to be given to the workers, despite his parents objecting to it.[3] Due to having an education, Zedong drafted Tu to be trained as a field medic. Tu was present at the Battle of Xiang River where he waded neck-deep through icy waters avoiding Kuomintang bombers. The commanders ordered that the Communists had to march or be left behind, regardless of injury as part of the Long March. Tu was separated from the main body on a mountain pass and survived on herbs before buying pork and herbal medicine from a village after days in the wilderness.[3] During this, he almost died after falling off a cliff due to being sleep deprived but was saved by tree branches breaking his fall.[4]
Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Tu was sent to the Soviet Union to study neurosurgery at the Burdenko Neurosurgery Institute in Moscow, becoming one of three Chinese Red Army soldiers with a doctorate after five years of study.[5][6] He became a founding major general of the People's Liberation Army in 1964.[7][8] Tu would spend 20 years teaching neurosurgery at the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an, Shaanxi.[6] He later served as the President of the Chinese Military Medical Academy, having taught there after earning his doctorate.[9][10]
Tu died on 3 April 2023 at the age of 108.[11]
