Xu was a teenage
Red Guard at the time of the
Cultural Revolution,[1] He was a researcher at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences at the time of the
Tiananmen massacre in 1989, and he tried in vain to persuade students to leave Tiananmen Square before the army suppression, as they refused to believe the soldiers would open fire on peaceful student protesters.[2][3] Investigated after the protests as a student sympathiser, he refused to admit guilt. His career suffered as he was demoted as director of his research centre and remained so until his retirement, having been denied research funding and unable to supervise postgraduate student projects.[3][4]
Xu Youyu (1999). Xingxing sese de zaofan 形形色色的造反:Hongweibing jingshen suzhi de xingcheng ji yanbian 紅衛兵精神素質的形成及演變 (Rebels of All Stripes: A Study of Red Guard Mentalities). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.