Liu was born on January 27, 1890, to a farmer's family in Wanxian, Hebei, Qing China.

[1][2] After graduating in 1918, he returned to Hebei to teach at the middle school he had attended until 1921, and in 1924 he became president of Beiyang University.

[1][2] After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he continued to teach at Tsinghua University, and in 1955, Liu joined the Chinese Communist Party.

In 1970, he drafted his own work plan for the next 10 years even though he suffered from a number of serious illnesses, and died in October 1975 of pancreatic cancer in the Third Affiliated Hospital of the Beijing Medical University.

[4] Liu is well known for his research into the literature on the development of machinery and machines in ancient China.