The match was in the balance until the last few balls, when a stunning pot on the final brown gave Fu a decisive advantage in the final frame.
The player from Hong Kong goes through to Sunday's best-of-19 final to face Ding Junhui or Graeme Dott. If Ding wins tomorrow, we'll see the third consecutive ranking final featuring two Asian players, following Ding's wins over Xiao Guodong at the Shanghai Masters and Aditya Mehta at the Indian Open.
At the age of 35, Fu has found the best form of his life in 2013. In February he reached the final of the German Masters, losing to Ali Carter, then in July he won the Australian Goldfields Open title by beating Neil Robertson 9-6. On Sunday he'll be aiming for his third ranking title - the other was the 2007 Grand Prix - as well as a career-high payday of £125,000.
Perry, who was aiming to reach the second ranking final of his career and first since the 2001 European Open, led 5-3 at the end of the first session. Fu hit back strongly in the second, winning the first three frames with a top break of 88 to lead 6-5.
A run of 103 from Perry got him back level and he nicked a scrappy 13th frame on the final black after Fu had missed a tough pink. The next two were shared, then Perry dominated frame 16 to make it 8-8.
Perry had two early chances in the decider and built a 36-8 lead. Fu battled back and was edging towards the winning post when he missed the last red along the top cushion. A tussle on the colours followed and Perry fluked the green to draw within 20 points. But Fu then converted a long cut on the brown to a baulk corner to leave his opponent needing two snookers, and when the Asian ace added the blue, his place in the final was secure.
"It was a very tight match," said Fu. "Neither of us were at our best and we dragged each other down. I just feel very fortunate that I'm in the final. There were a lot of frames which ran for 30 or 40 minutes which is very tiring. Towards the end I couldn't control my arms because I was so tired.
"I hadn't been to a ranking final in a few years, so to reach three in the same year is quite an achievement and very satisfying. I'm really looking forward to the final. I hope I can play ten times better than today otherwise I won't stand a chance. I'll have to control my technical aspects. I'll spend some time on the practice table tomorrow."
