Born in the Japanese colonial era, Xiao received Japanese education since childhood, and later began to study Chinese on his own to earn a living following the change of political power in Taiwan. After graduating from the Hsinchu Normal School, he lived in Zhudong Town of Hsinchu County. In 1940 during the Taiyang Art Exhibition, his talents in composition and amazing techniques in using color were revealed.

He strived to absorb the concept of Western art, and constantly cultivated his own style of Impressionist, Cubist, and Fauvist, and blended the lines and brushstrokes of traditional oriental calligraphy to create a unique style of painting. He had won high honors in provincial exhibitions, the Taiyang exhibition, Qingyun exhibition, and the provincial faculty art exhibition.

As a generalist painter, Xiao painted landscapes, still lives, and people. His landscape painting series "Painting My Hometown" and "Japanese style Ink Painting" are unique but at the same time intertwined with other styles. The first kind is Japanese-style watercolor paintings of beautiful ladies or pastel painting with a floral theme. The style is elegant and close to the tradition of Dongyang painting; the color are flat and the lines are beautiful and stable.

The second type of painting Xiao specialized in was reproducing the countryside landscape. He preferred showing nature from one's point of view, focusing on that rather than realism. The third type of paintings Xiao made were indoor still life, in which he showed the realm of the soul and nature. The paintings are quiet and intertwined with light and shadow; they exhibit realistic and geometric abstraction, from the points, lines and face to show the spirit of modern art.

Some of the characters, window displays, clustered students and other works also show the motivations and tensions of the Expressionist, the Fauvist and the Futurist. The brushstrokes, tones and shapes in all the paintings are well thought out and experimental, and at the same time skillful, rather than being general pure beauty. His watercolors were close to the style of paintings, but with a strict concept that came from life experiences.

Xiao had devoted his career to teaching and deeply cultivated the arts in Taiwan. He used his paintings to carry forward the splendor of local culture. His earnest and rigorous attitude towards life, his persistence in painting, and the spirit of continuous thinking and seeking new progress makes him not only "the interpreter of the beauty of Hsinchu County," but also the "excellent artistic educator " whom everyone admired and learned from.