At a young age Bai joined the Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe, where she entered the Shanghai entertainment industry. She used the stage name (フ璱), which translates as 'White Rainbow'. By the 1930s, she was a popular icon, known for her mastery of language and clarity in expressing lyrics, which helped her gain many fans. In the 1930s, she was recognized as one of the three great 'mandopop' singers with Zhou Xuan and Gong Qiuxia. Her career peaked in the 1940s, when her music style changed more to uptempo jazz. She was married to the composer Li Jin Guang(兢?), though they later separated in a divorce in the 1950s. She stayed in China after 1949 and continued making films. During the Cultural Revolution her past association with the old Shanghai days caught up to her, and she was subjected to persecution and abuse. In 1992, she died at the age of 73.