He was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Science who is respected for his contributions in both theoretical and experimental chemistry.

[6] Due to the Anti-Japanese War, the students and faculty were relocated to an advanced industrial school in Ningbo, where Xu graduated in 1939.

Xu traveled to the United States in 1948 to attend the graduate school of Washington University in St. Louis.

[3] He also worked as a teaching assistant, enabling Gao Xiaoxia to join him and study analytical chemistry at New York University.

[2] In February 1949, he became a member of the Phi Lambda Upsilon National Honorary Chemical Society (ΦΛΥ).

Soon after, the United States government passed an act forbidding Chinese citizens who were studying in America from returning to China.

[16] During the Cultural Revolution, Xu and his wife Gao Xiaoxia were accused of spying for the Kuomintang and sent to a labor camp from 1969 to 1972.

[12][16]: 8 When he returned to Peking University in 1972, Xu was asked to change his field of study to the extraction of praseodymium, a rare earth element.

[16][17][18] Gao Xiaoxia's development of microanalytical techniques in polarography contributed to the success of Xu's research.

[16][20] The Yellow River is a source of drinking water for an estimated 150 million people, so radioactive contamination is a very serious issue.