Yao Shaofu was born in an ordinary peasant family in Taoyuan County, Hunan Province on October 13, 1932. In order to support his education, his parents worked hard and lived frugally. They did not expect him to achieve anything in the future or to honor his ancestors. They only hoped that he could study well and not suffer as much as they did, facing the loess and back to the sky all day long. He went to boarding school when he was in high school and studied under dim tung oil lamps every night. He only used kerosene lamps when he was in junior high school. He has always thought: How wonderful it would be when rural children can study and study under bright electric lights! When he was in politics class, he once heard the teacher tell him a famous saying of Lenin: "Communism equals Soviets plus electrification." Naive, he believed that electrification was very close to the highest ideal of mankind, so he made up his mind to realize electrification. Contribute your youth. In September 1951, he was admitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering of Hunan University, realizing his initial wish.

Yao Shaofu has served as the chief designer or deputy chief designer of various types of missiles, and the chief designer of the aircraft missile model series. He has successively served as the vice chairman of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Society of the Chinese Astronautical Society, the vice chairman of the China High-tech Industrialization Research Association, a member of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Military Products Finalization Committee, and a member of the National Science and Technology Progress Award National Defense Science and Technology Industry Aerospace Professional Review Team. In 1997, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has also been appointed as a part-time professor by Harbin Institute of Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and other institutions of higher learning. He has received many awards for his meritorious service. Since 1985, as one of the main contributors, he has won one National Science and Technology Progress Special Award, one first prize, two second prizes, and one third prize for "Development of a Certain Type of Anti-Ship Missile"; many achievements have been won. Science and Technology Progress Award from the Ministry of Aerospace and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. In 1988, he was approved by the National Ministry of Personnel as a young and middle-aged expert with outstanding contributions; in 1988, he was awarded a certificate of honor by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense; in 1989, he was awarded the title of National Advanced Worker; in 1992, he was awarded the Aerospace Award by the Ministry of Aeronautics and Astronautics; in 1995 Won the first prize for Outstanding Contribution from the Aerospace Corporation. In 1998 and 1999, he was awarded first-class merit from the Aerospace Corporation and first-class merit from the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense for his outstanding achievements in the development and testing of aircraft missile models. China's aviation missile industry has grown from scratch, from small to large, and has embarked on a successful path from imitation, improved design, to self-development and innovative development. China's anti-ship missile series of aviation missiles have ranked among the world's advanced ones. Yao Shaofu is both an experiencer and a witness. In decades of front-line technical work, Yao Shaofu has written and reviewed a large number of technical reports, presided over the review of model technical indicators, and organized the overall program demonstration and approval work. Examine and approve the technical status of each stage of the model, propose the development procedures of the missile weapon system, and determine the development mission statement of each subsystem. Examine and sign the interfaces of each subsystem and other important technical documents in the missile development process, the main technical interface parameters between the subsystems, and the subsystem development mission statement, etc. He presided over the resolution of many key technical issues and quality issues in production and testing during the development process. Organize program demonstrations, preside over flight tests at the range, analyze faults, and decide on improvement measures. He made important contributions in the engineering development and testing of various aircraft missile weapon systems to the successful completion of finalized flight test missions.