Xie Jishi was born in Hsinchu, Qing Empire in 1878, and attended the Japanese-run Shinchiku Kokugo Denshujo, where he studied the Japanese language.

Itō was so impressed with the young Xie that he recommended him for a scholarship to Meiji University in Tokyo, from which he graduated from the law school.

Following the Xinhai Revolution, Xie travelled to China in 1913 and served as secretary-general to General Zhang Xun in Tianjin in 1913.

He participated in Zhang Xun's brief restoration to power of the dethroned Emperor Puyi in 1917, and was Assistant Officer for Foreign Affairs during the brief imperial government.

Xie was later recruited by the warlord of Kirin Province, General Xi Qia, and assisted him in his negotiations with the Imperial Japanese Army after the Manchurian Incident, during which time Xi Qia declared Kirin Province independent from the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China.