Taizhou, Jiangsu
Xia was born on October 20, 1930 in Taizhou, Jiangsu. He pursued his undergraduate studies at the Department of Mathematics at Shandong University and subsequently obtained his postgraduate degree from the Department of Mathematics at Zhejiang University in 1952. His advisor was Chen Jiangong, a pioneer of modern Chinese mathematics who was then dean of the Department of Mathematics.