In 1952, he was assigned to the Beijing No. 1 Machine Tool Factory, he remained at the factory until 1965, when he was transferred to southwest China's Sichuan province and appointed party secretary of the newly founded Changzheng Machine Tool Plant (长征机床厂). In 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out, he was sent to the May Seventh Cadre Schools to do farm works. He was removed from office but reinstated two years later. Gu got involved in politics in 1978, when he was appointed vice mayor and party secretary of Zigong. At the same time, he was admitted to member of the Standing Committee of the CCP Zigong Municipal Committee, the city's top authority. In 1982, he was promoted to become vice governor of Sichuan and was admitted to member of the Standing Committee of the CCP Sichuan Provincial Committee, the province's top authority. He was chosen as deputy party secretary of Sichuan in 1987.
^Editorial Committee, ed. (1999). 中华人民共和国年鉴 1998 [Yearbook of the People's Republic of China 1998] (in Chinese). Beijing: China Yearbook Society. p. 41. ISBN7-80056-903-9.
^Long De (龙德); Cai Xiang (蔡翔), eds. (2000). 中华人民共和国通鉴 [General Annals of the People's Republic of China] (in Chinese). Shenyang: Liaoning People's Publishing House. p. 1832. ISBN7-205-04473-1.