Guo was born in Hubei province in 1888 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1911, Phi Beta Kappa.

In 1929, he resigned the post of vice-minister of foreign affairs in protest of the placement of so many former imperial and warlord bureaucrats in the Kuomintang's Nanjing government, but was convinced to return.

During one of his tenures as Vice-Minister, he was beaten by an angry, nationalist mob in Shanghai in May 1932 for his decision to sign an armistice with the Japanese, who were continuously pushing further into Chinese territory.

[1] In April 1941, Guo was named to replace Wang Chonghui as foreign minister by the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang.

It was also he who, on December 8, 1941, confirmed that the Republic of China was officially at war with not only the Empire of Japan, but also Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy.