As he writes in his autobiographical essay "In 1998, influenced by the "liberalization" movement, I lost faith in the rule of the Chinese Communist Party and joined with some others in organizing an anti-communist group and contributed articles to a magazine."
Returning to school in Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Liu wrote many posters and articles criticizing the repression and agitated for the establishment of a democratic political party in China.
[1][2] In December 1992 the Beijing Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liu Xianbin to 2 years and 6 months of imprisonment for counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation.
In May 1995, he participated with Wang Dan and Liu Xiaobo in a petition drive entitled "Drawing Lessons from Blood and Promoting Democracy and the Rule of Law".
On November 6, 2008, he was released after completing his sentence with allowance for time served and good behavior after 9 years and four months in Sichuan's Chuandong prison.
[citation needed] Liu Xianbin noted in his account of his police interrogation of March 2010 that public security asked him about four articles that had appeared on foreign websites.
The Suining Public Security Bureau's advice to the prosecutors lists several statements made by Liu Xianbin in his many articles published in Chinese magazines and websites overseas which it found subversive.