During the Revolution of 1911, he served as the battalion commander of the Northern Expedition, and led troops in the Battle of Nanjing.

Subsequently, in 1924 Liu founded Suzhou Higher Technical School, which is considered to be the beginning of modern architectural education in China.

[1][2][4][5][6] He served as the director and professor of the department, and also invited Liu Dunzhen and Zhu Shigui to join.

[7][8] In 1930 Liu was hired by the Civil Engineering Department of Daxia University and Shanghai Zhonghua Vocational Education Association.

In 1952 he was appointed to establish the Central and Southern Civil Engineering College and served as its dean a year later.

He pointed out the backwardness of the style, layout and function in Chinese traditional architecture, and thus further advocated that civilization must be first improved.