Xie was a popular director amongst the older generations of Chinese, with six of his films being voted Best Picture in the Hundred Flowers Awards.

In 1941, Xie enrolled in the play department of Jiang'an National Drama School in Sichuan,[2] and was educated by Cao Yu, Hong Shen, Jiao Juyin, Ma Yanxiang, Chen Liting, among other notable figures.

In 1943, he voluntarily ceased his study and started working in China Youth Play Agency in Chongqing, and became stage manager, scenario writer and actor.

After establishment of PRC, Xie enrolled in the research institute of politics of North China Revolutionary University.

However, it was attacked in his home country because it “advocated the reconciliation of social classes.” Xie recalled in the 2002 interview that his parents committed suicide amid the political pressure — his mother jumping off a building and his father overdosing on sleeping pills — and he had to collect their bodies himself.

Jia Zhangke remarked it was still risky for Xie to make films about this traumatic period in the 1980s, which he did, when China had started to open up and implement economic reforms.

After he died, Song Zude, known as the King of Media Hype in mainland China, made a series of derogatory statements about Xie Jin.