He became an assistant research fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in September 1956, and served until November 1969, when he was sent to the May Seventh Cadre Schools to do farm works in Qianjiang, Hubei.
[2] During the Cultural Revolution, Gui, alongside Sun Shangqing [zh], Liu Guoguang [zh], Dong Fureng [zh] and other four economists were labeled as "Eight Heavenly Guardians" (八大金刚) of the "Anti-Party Alliance" (反党联盟) of Zhang Wentian and Sun Yefang, and was also denounced as the "Revisionist Seedling" (修正主义苗子) cultivated by Sun Yefang.
[2] HisSeventy Articles of Industry (工业七十条) and its propaganda materials were criticized as "Big Poisonous Weeds" (大毒草) by the Red Guards.
[1][2] From March 1987 to June 1988, he also served a short term as deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party.
[1][2] He concurrently served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Governance between July 1994 and November 1999.