Yi Xiaoguang was born into a military family in Shuyang County, Suqian, Jiangsu Province.

He entered the famous PLA Air Force Command Academy in Haidian, Beijing in 1984, laying the foundation for his subsequent "helicopter rise."

He reached the post of deputy division commander in 1989 at the age of 31 and division command in 1992, director of the Department of Training in the PLAAF Headquarters in 1996 (the youngest grade-two department head at the time), and deputy chief of staff of Guangzhou Military Region Air Force in 2002.

[2] Yi served as president of the PLA Air Force Command Academy (AFCA) from 2004 to 2008.

[2] In 2003, Yi Xiaoguang and Sun Herong co-authored the highly acclaimed book The Stealth Aircraft: A Difficult Adversary (《隐形飞机及其克星》ISBN 9787801721099).