Wu is currently Professor of Anthropology, Affiliate Graduate Faculty, University of Hawaii at Manoa (since 1976); Adjunct Senior Fellow, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii; Adjunct Fellow, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica (Taipei, 1976 -19); Research Fellow, Institute of International Affairs, Aichi University, Nagoya, Japan (2013 -19); and Research Fellow, Keio University East Asian Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan (2016 – 19).
Wu served as Assistant Technician and Research Assistant at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica (1958 – 1966); TA, RA, and Instructor of Anthropology (1966-69), University of Hawaii; Research Scholar of Pacific Studies, the Australian National University (1970-74); Senior Fellow, East-West Center (1974 - 1993); Associate Clinical Professor of Neuro-Psychiatry, John Burn School of Medicine, University of Hawaii (1980 – 1995); and Chair Professor of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (1993 - 2000). Wu is currently Co-Chief Editor, Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Taiwan University. He also served on the advisory boards of many international journals.
Wu recently was Visiting Professor to National Taiwan University (2008), National Tsing-Hua University (1987 and 2008-09), National Chiaotung University (2011), National Chung-Hsing University (2016), Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan (1991-92), National University of Singapore (1980, 1988).
Wu was educated in Taiwan, the U.S., and Australia:
1963 B.A., Archaeology and Anthropology, National Taiwan University
1969 M.A. and Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, University of Hawaii
1974 Ph.D., Anthropology, The Australian National University.
From 1958 to 2018, Wu has conducted Fieldwork among Formosan aborigines; Chinese Diasporas in the South Pacific and S.E. Asia; Preschool Education and Minority Nationalities in China; and since the 1990s the globalization of food, cuisine, music and dance, and cultural nationalism in East Asia. In addition to more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, his 17 book titles can be found in his publication list. Wu credits his fruitful long time fieldworks and productive publications to his late wife Wei-lan Wang (1942-2007, BA and MA in anthropology), who was a field research team member for 40 years.