Xu Hongduo (1935) was a native of Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province. After graduating from the Oil Painting Department of the Nanjing Academy of Arts in 1961, Xu was assigned to the Shandong Academy of Arts to teach for 2 years. In 1963, he came to work in the Dezhou Bureau of Culture and Education. There, he picked up the camera and started his photography career.

During his decades of photographing, Xu has published thousands of photographic works in national newspapers and magazines.