Xu was born in Yancheng, Jiangsu province.[1] He moved south to the city of Shanghai when he was 10-years old.[1] He joined the People's Liberation Army when he was 23 years old and was sent to North Vietnam during the 1960s.[1] Xu first became interested in creating purple clay teapots while still enlisted in the military. After leaving the army, Xu returned to Shanghai with a truck full of purple clay teapots he created.[1]
Xu continued making purple clay teapots during the 1980s. His creation, a teapot called "Summer," won a national competition in 1985.[1] That particular teapot was later acquired by the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.[1] His first solo exhibition of his teapots took place in Singapore in 1989.[2]
Examples of his teapots are now displayed in both Chinese and international museums.[1]
In 1992, Xu Sihai opened the Sihai Teapot Museum, the first private museum in Shanghai.[1] He also opened "A Hundred Buddhas Garden" in 2009, a 3.07-hectare complex which encompasses the original Sihai Teapot Museum, as well as the China Tea God Museum and a tea processing factory located in the city's Jiading Districts Zhenxin neighborhood.[1]
Xu Sihai died on June 5, 2020, at the age of 74.[1]
