Before his birth, He Mangu joined the Chinese Communist Party and began taking part in revolutionary activities with her siblings.

In 1928, Xiang Shengui led his guerilla unit in attacking Kuomintang forces in Shishou and Jianli counties in Hubei.

Facing stiff counterattack by enemy forces, He Mangu moved her children including Xiang Xuan to a village in Yongshun County, Hunan.

As the unit began to lose the battle, He Ying ordered Xiang to escape with local guerillas to meet up with his uncle He Long and gave him a bag containing a ring, five silver dollars and a small pistol.

He Ying was killed in the battle and Xiang Xuan followed the remainder of the guerilla unit in meeting up with He Long at the mountains near the border of Guizhou.

In 1948, at a battle in Dali County, Shaanxi, Xiang served as the engineering company commander for the Northwest Field Army.

During the battle, he utilized altered soil to detonate pillboxes of the National Revolutionary Army but sustained severe injuries including nearly losing sight in his right eye and shrapnel wounds throughout his body.