Xu was born in Huilai, Guangdong Province, China, in August 1975.

[2] He is one of a handful of grandmasters from Guangdong Province, which is notable for being the home of many famed grandmasters of Xiangqi, including Yang Guanlin, Cai Furu, and Lu Qin.

Xu's style is in general compared with Taiji (太极), which means he wins games peacefully.

Xu got his first championship of national Xiangqi tournament at the age of 18, the second youngest (to Hu Ronghua) ever.

[citation needed] This Chinese biographical article is a stub.