In 1934 he enlisted in the Red Army and successively served as soldier, squad leader, and platoon sergeant.

In 1936 he attended the Red Army Infantry School and that same year became a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

During the Chinese Civil War, he was deputy division leader of the First Squad of the Taihang Military Region.

In the winter of 1951, he was chief of staff of the Fifteenth Army and participated in the fifth campaign of the Korean War to counter the fall of tactical combat; he suffered head injuries.

After the war in 1955 he was awarded the military rank of major general (shao jiang) by Mao Zedong.

After graduation in June, Prime Minister Zhou Enlai appointed him as president of Xi'an Artillery School (now PLA Rocket Force University of Engineering).

Xiang married Zhang Ling (张玲, born in 1919 in Kaifeng, Henan) in Pingdong County of Shandong Province on May 25, 1945.