He was born in Huilongshan Town, Tuanfeng County, Hubei Province.
In 1926, he went to the Soviet Union to study at Moscow Sun Yat-sen University.
In January 1931, he was made a Party Committee member for Shanghai and later for Beiping.
He was later arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to 14 years in prison.
In 1936, through the efforts of Liu Shaoqi, he was among 57 communists who were released from prison.