[2] Born in 1921 at rural area of Ningbo, Xu completed his earlier education at local schools.
Then he studied at the Department of Metallurgy, National Yunnan University during 1938–1942.
He went to Chongqing and Nanjing, served as a technician at Munitions Bureau afterwards.
He began to teach at Tangshan Jiaotong University as associate professor since 1949.
[4] Xu was elected as an Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1995.