A participant in the Sino-Vietnamese conflicts, he is one of the few serving PLA generals with battle experience.

In his early years he worked as a sent-down youth in Dengzhou, Henan Province.

[2][3] Qi joined the PLA as an ordinary soldier and rose through the army ranks.

[2][3] He was also chairman of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies (中国国际战略学会), with responsibility for military intelligence and diplomacy, where he succeeded Ma Xiaotian and in 2013 was himself succeeded by Sun Jianguo, a fellow Deputy Chief of Joint Staff.

[4] Qi was one of the military commanders of the relief efforts after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.