Xu was born in Jilin Province in northeast China in July 1940. He graduated from the Northeast Normal University in August 1963, majoring in Chinese literature.

In July 1995, Xu became vice president of the newspaper. Before that, he was a standing committee member of the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the publicity department of the provincial CPC committee.

In March 1998, Xu was appointed as the editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, and in August 2001, he became president of the paper.

Xu was a delegate to the 15th CPC National Congress held in September 1997, at which he was elected a member of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In 1996, he was elected chairman of the Press Association of China.

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2002)