Xu was born in
She County,
Anhui, on 4 May 1934. After graduating from
Tongji University in 1955, he began graduate work at the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He joined the
Communist Party in May 1983. In June 2006, he was hired as a Distinguished Professor at
Shandong University of Technology. In April 2001, he was engaged by
Huazhong University of Science and Technology as a professor and director of Institute of Geophysics. On 31 August 2021, he died from an illness in
Wuhan,
Hubei, aged 87. He was a delegate to the
6th,
7th and
8th National People's Congress. == Works ==