In 1993, Xu skipped the college entrance exams and started investing in stocks, using money from his parents as initial capital at China Galaxy Securities's trading hall on South Liberation Road in Ningbo.
[1][8] In 2003, Xu was reported by the media for the first time as the "captain of the Limit-up Kamikaze Squad" (涨停板敢死队总舵主).
According to Economic Information Daily (经济参考报), Xu arrived at his office at 8.45am every day and often went to bed at around 2am.
[3] In July 2011, it was rumored that Zexi Investment was under investigation by China's regulatory authorities, but Xu denied any illegal operations.
To assist the arrest, the highway patrol sealed off the 35.4 km Hangzhou Bay Bridge for more than 30 minutes.
Xu's family controlled Ningbo Zhongbai (宁波中百), a department store in China.