?€ Hsueh T'ao was a native of Chengtu who came from a scholarly family. At the age of 7 or 8, she had already learned to play several musical instruments. When her father, an official, passed away, she sought the qualification of an official musician in order to make a living. She was not only gifted in music but poetry as well, and even before the age of 20, her poetry had spread far and wide. She was therefore often invited to government for social activities, being welcomed by scholars and poets of the time.

?€ Hsueh T'ao is best known for the colored crimson notepaper that she meticulously made. She personally wrote poetry on these colored notes, which she bestowed on the social elite and were known as "Notes of Hsueh T'ao". It is even said that the site of the Hundred Flowers Pool (Pai-hua t'an, west of modern Chengtu, Szechuan) still bears the remains of the well where Hsueh T'ao dyed her notes.

?€ In later years, Hsueh T'ao resided in the Pi-chi Workshop, where she established the Poetry Recitation Tower (Yin-shih lou), which was quite similar to a poetry salon of modern times. This was an indication of her freedom and independence. When she died in 831 at approximately the age of 72, the local official and literary elite composed an epitaph for her, which unfortunately has not survived.

?€ Hsueh T'ao was also a capable calligrapher. The Sung scholar-artist Mi Fu in Hsuan-ho Catalogue of Calligraphy praised her "brush force as lofty and energetic" with the spirit of the "Sage Calligrapher" Wang Hsi-chih, thus confirming her multiple talents.