Liang was born in Harbin, Heilongjiang in 1949, with his ancestral hometown in Rongcheng, Shandong.

[4][8][6][7][10] In 1966, when the Cultural Revolution was launched by Mao Zedong, Liang graduated from Harbin 29th High School (Chinese: 哈尔滨第二十九中学).

Two years later, Liang went to the Great Northern Wilderness and worked in Shenyang Military Region.

[7] In 1972, Liang, as a sent-down youth, was sent to Beidahuang [zh] for labor reform and met his first love Dong Qiujuan (董秋娟), and they later broke up.

[11] During his study at Fudan University, Liang was introduced to Jiao Dan (焦丹), who was 6 years his junior, and they got married.