He attended Dashizi School (大十字小学) and Datong No.
After high school, his studies was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, he forced to work in the fields instead of going to university.
In 1968 he worked as a coal miner in the Jinhua Gongkuang (晋华宫矿), and one year later he was transferred to the Art Troupe of Datong Bureau of Mine Affairs.
In October 1972, he was transferred again to the Bureau of Public Security as a criminal police.
In 1995, one of his articles was included in the first issue of Reader's Digest.