Her hometown is Hunan Changsha she participated in Chinese Painting Reasearch Assocation in Beijing in 1921. She once published in Yi-Lin Monthly and Lake Society Monthly, and she held personal exhibitions in Chongqing, Chengdu and other cities. In 1957, she entered into the Beijing Arts Academy. She once worked as advisor of Beijing Meticulous Color Painting, adviser of Beijing Chinese Painting Research Assocation, the member of Chinese Artists Association.     Xu Congyou loved painting since her childhood. After participateing in Chinese Painting Research Assocation, she studied with Jinchengand Shen Shizeng. Her works in his early years were praised by Zhang Taiyan, Huang Yanpei, Qi Baishi and had an important influence in the field of painting. After the liberation, she participated in many important exhibitions at home and abroad, and her works were collected by National Art Museum of China and other museums. In her art life for more than 70 years, she carefully studied meticulous boneless bird art, made outstanding achievements and had a positive impact on contemporary traditional Chinese realistic painting.