Henry Huai Xu was born in 1942 in Shanghai and studied art at the Academy of Arts in Nanjing, China from 1958 to 1962. After graduating, he worked for the Shanghai Grand Theatre as a stage designer and also painter of movie posters for various theatres in Shanghai. In 1985 Xu won 2nd prize in the prestigious 'Young Chinese Artist's' competition. The following year he travelled to Japan for a joint exhibition in Kyoto.

Henry and his wife and daughter came to Canada in 1988 and now reside in Vancouver. Xu paints a variety of subject matters, from landscapes to still lifes and European scenes. His latest travels took him to Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Russia.