He graduated from the Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University in 1959. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1981, and was appointed Doctoral Supervisor and Professor in 1986. In 1995, he was elected a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In 2005, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).

From 1980 to 1982, he worked as a visiting scholar at the Paris Observatory in France. From 1988 to 1989, he served as a Special Member of the China Center for Advanced Science and Technology, and concurrently held the position of Director of the Sub-center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. He was Dean of the Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University from 1993 to 1997, President of the Chinese Astronomical Society from 1998 to 2002, Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) from 2003 to 2009, and Vice-Chairman of the Jiangsu Association for Science and Technology from 2004 to 2009.

Between 1990 and 2001, he was invited six times by the Paris Observatory (France) and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan to serve as a visiting professor for collaborative research in France and Japan.

His previous positions also include: Chairman of the Astronomy Discipline Review Panel of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Editorial Board Member of the international journal Solar Physics, Chief Scientist of the "Climbing Program" project titled "Multi-wavelength Observation and Research on Violent Stellar Activities", and Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ChJAA, English edition). Currently, he serves as Deputy Director of the Academic Committee of Nanjing University.