Xu was born in
Lingshou County,
Zhili (now Hebei), on 16 March 1921. He enlisted in the
Eighth Route Army in September 1937, and joined the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in November of that same year. During the
Second Sino-Japanese War, he served in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and mainly fought with the
Imperial Japanese Army in
Hebei province. During the
Chinese Civil War, he served in the war and engaged in the Battle of Qingfengdian, Battle of Shijiazhuang,
Pingjin campaign, Battle of Taiyuan, and Battle of Ningxia. In 1951, he was assigned the 63rd Group Army and participated in the
Korean War. Xu returned to China in 1953 and was sent to study at the Voroshilov Higher Military Academy in the following year. After graduating in 1957, he taught at the PLA Higher Military Academy. He was commander of the 66th Group Army in 1962, and held that office until December 1970, when he was promoted to become chief of staff of the
Beijing Military Region. In 1980, he was transferred to the
People's Liberation Army General Staff Department, where he was assistant chief of general staff in November 1980 and deputy chief of general staff in December 1982. In 1987, he became a member of the Advisory Committee of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, serving in the post until his retirement in 1992. He also succeeded
Wu Xiuquan as chairman of the
China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIISS). On 18 November 2005, he died in
Beijing, at the age of 84. He was promoted to the rank of
major general (
shaojiang) in 1964 and
general (
shangjiang) in 1988. ==References==