Meng Xiaodong was born in Shanghai in 1907 and by the age of 13 was already singing Peking Opera at the Da Shijie 'Great World' Entertainment Complex. During the course of her professional career she sang all over China, always returning to Shanghai. In Chinese opera, she always played bearded men.

In 1925, Shanghai-born 18 year-old Meng Xiaodong met Mei Lanfang for the first time while performing on stage together during a minister's birthday party in Beijing. Over a year later, she married Mei and became his third wife. They had a daughter together just before their marriage ended in 1931. Reportedly, they never spoke to each other again. In a strange twist of fate, Meng Xiaodong later became the concubine and then fifth wife of Shanghai gangster, Green Gang leader and right wing politician Du Yuesheng ('Big Ears Du').

Meng Xiaodong moved to Taiwan in the 1960s, died in 1977, and is buried in the Buddhist cemetery at Jinglu Temple at Shanjia, Shulin in Taipei County.