His teacher, Ou Jianfu, first noticed Xian Xinghai's musical talent, and he was enrolled into the school's military band.

Xian started learning the clarinet in 1918 at the YMCA charity school attached to the Lingnan University in Guangzhou (Canton).

[7] During the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), he wrote vocal works that encouraged the people to fight the Japanese invaders, including Saving the Nation, Non-Resistance the Only Fear, Song of Guerrillas, The Roads Are Opened by Us, The Vast Siberia, Children of the Motherland, Go to the Homefront of the Enemy, and On the Taihang Mountains, among others.

He worked for film studios before going to the Communist headquarters in Yan'an, where he became dean of the Music Department at Lu Xun Institute of Arts in 1938.

In 1941 the German invasion of the Soviet Union disrupted his work and he attempted to return to China by way of Xinjiang but the local warlord, Sheng Shicai, blocked the way and he got stranded in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

It was here that he composed the symphonies Liberation of the Nation and Sacred War, the orchestral suite Red All Over the River and the Chinese Rhapsody for orchestra.

During Xian's career, he composed over 300 works and published 35 papers, including Nie Er-the Creator of New Chinese Music.

In 2009, the epic film The Star and The Sea was created by directors Qiankuan Li and Guiyun Xiao, featuring actors Vivian Hsu, Alec Su, and Chen Kun.