Born on January 5, 1932, in Shimen County, Hunan Province, Republic of China, with his father, a member of the Legislature, as his fourth child. The temporary capital of the Chiang Kai-shek administration of Nationalist government was placed in Chongqing in December 1938, but before that, in 1937, he evacuated to Chongqing with his father and stepmother and entered an elementary school there. However, due to repeated Bombing of Chongqing, he was unable to settle in one place. In 1943, he enrolled in Nankai Junior High School, which was evacuated to Chongqing at the time. He transferred to a high school in Nanjing, which became the capital of Chiang Kai-shek administration again in 1946, after the collapse of Wang Jingwei regime. In 1948 he moved to Changsha and transferred to another junior high school. In 1949, he fled to Taiwan with his father and stepmother due to the Chinese Civil War, but separated from the four siblings who remained on the continent. His parents died without being able to resume with their children.