Guo was born into a scholarly family in 1936 in Tongliang district, Chongqing. He has loved painting since his childhood and has taught himself to be a veteran artist of Chinese painting.

In 1960, he became a teacher in Dazu and often went to the mountains drawing sketches of the grottoes.

The local cultural relics protection and management bureau noticed his interest in the rock carvings and asked him to work for the bureau.

At that time, cultural relics protection had long been neglected and underfinanced as the country was struggling with economic development.

"There were only two people working at the bureau, me and the director," Guo recalls.