In November 1933, he joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

From 1938, he served as the vice director of Hebei-Shandong-Henan CCP Publicity Department, director of South Hebei CPC Propaganda Department, and as a party group secretary.

[1] After 1949, he arrived in Wuhan with the army, and was appointed a standing member of Hubei Provincial Party Committee and vice president of People's Government of Hubei Province.

He was very active in the Great Leap Forward period, but was purged during the Cultural Revolution, and imprisoned for eight years until 1975.

In 1978 he became the vice-premier of the State Council, and from 1980 to 1982 he served as the head of Propaganda Department.