In a 2001 study, John Chaffee argued that Empress Liu's rise from an humble entertainer to a de facto ruler was a great success story in China's history, and that she made regency a "safe option" at times when "normal imperial rule was impossible.

She married Gong Mei (龔美), a silversmith who took her to the capital Kaifeng, where in 983, she entered the palace of Prince Xiang(襄王) Zhao Yuanxiu, the future Emperor Zhenzong.

[3] According to anecdotes in historian Sima Guang's Sushui Jiwen, Gong Mei sold Lady Liu out of poverty, probably first to Zhang Qi (張耆), an official in the prince's palace.

Lady Liu was forced to leave the palace, but the prince kept her at the house of Zhang Qi, who begrudgingly accepted her only after receiving 500 ounces of silver for the construction of a separate residence, so as to circumvent the emperor's order.

"Empress Dowager Liu now openly and officially assumed all power as regent of China during Renzong's minority, fully unrestricted.

She was however, criticized for having usurped the imperial ceremonies and had herself worshiped as if she were an emperor, and because she appointed her relatives, who were of a poor background and considered vulgar, to high offices.

[5] During her lifetime, Emperor Renzong had falsely believed that she was his biological mother, and did not find out otherwise until after her death, which caused him to react with rage.

The family later moved from Taiyuan in the north to Jiaozhou in the southwest, where her father Liu Tong assumed office of prefectship,[8] likely during the first years of the newly established Song dynasty which conquered the region in 965.