A graduate of Peking University, Moscow Sun Yat-sen University and the Frunze Military Academy, Qu was a left-wing nationalist; he joined the Kuomintang and married a daughter of Yu Youren, but strongly supported collaboration with the Communists against Japan and aggressive nationalizations of foreign-owned businesses. In 1949, as the Nationalist-appointed Mayor of Ürümqi, he played a leading role in the mostly peaceful incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China.