As a footballer, he played as a midfielder and spent his whole career with Dalian Wanda FC where he won eight league titles and three Chinese FA Cups. His international career saw him play for the Chinese national team gathering 86 international appearances between 1992 and 2004, scoring 8 goals. He represented his nation at four editions of the AFC Asian Cup, helping his team to a third-place finish in 1992, a quarter-finals in 1996, a fourth-place finish in 2000 and a second-place finish in 2004 edition of the tournament.