Other than his courtesy name Yanzhi (炎之; Yánzhī), he was also known as Xiaoshan (筱珊; Xiǎoshān, also written as 小山 or 筱山).
His grandfather, Miao Tinghuai (缪庭槐; 繆庭槐; Miào Tínghuái), served as the prefectural magistrate of Pingliang in Gansu, and his father, Miao Huanzhang (缪煥章; 缪焕章; Miào Huànzhāng), passed the provincial imperial examination, but did not get an official position.
In 1876, the second year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, at the age of 33, he passed the highest palace examination, gained the title of shujishi and entered the Hanlin Academy.
He remained there for 7 years and assisted Zhang Zhidong, then an editor there, in compiling the Shun Tianfu Chronicles (顺天府志), a 130-volume gazetteer of the Beijing metropolitan area.
In 1888, he was appointed as director of the Nanjing Academy (南菁书院), which, established in 1884 by Huang Tifang, was famous for its printing house.
He also traveled to Dongyang with seven other chairs, including Xu Naichang and Lui Yizheng to inspect academic affairs there.
Also in that city, he oversaw the construction of the Taofeng Building,[2] which opened in 1910 in the Xuanwu District on the site of the former Xiyin Academy.