She was born in 1956 in Kaohsiung. Her father, Hu Tsung-wen, worked making sports shoes. He was a devout Christian, but didn't let anything impinge on his children's liberal education. He didn't scold them, or force them to anything they didn't want to do-and that included following his religious beliefs.
她生於一九五六年，台灣高雄人，父親胡宗文從事運動鞋的製造，是名虔誠的基督徒，對孩子的教育十分開明，從不責罵，也不勉強他們做不願意做的事，包括宗教信仰。