Born in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Composer. In 1933, he enrolled in the Normal Department of Shanghai Xinhua Art College, where he studied music and fine arts. In 1940, he became a faculty member at the Lu Xun Academy of Art in Yan'an. From 1955 to 1959, he studied abroad at the Moscow Conservatory in the former Soviet Union on a government scholarship, majoring in composition. He is known as one of the composers of the ballet-opera The White-Haired Girl.

After returning to China, he worked as a resident composer for the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and served as a standing director and vice-chairman of the Chinese Musicians' Association, as well as chairman of the Music Education Society, among other positions.