Liu was born in the town of Gaojimiao [zh], in Shishou County (now Shishou), Hubei, in July 1933.[3][4] He secondary studied at Shishou High School.[4] He enlisted in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in July 1951, and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1954.[3] He graduated from the PLA 7th Infantry School. As a result of his performance at the Vietnam War, he was eventually promoted to commander of a PLA army in 1983. In the war, he shot down and injured 12 American fighter planes.
In 1985, he was appointed commander of the Shenyang Military Region, he remained in that position until November 1992, when he was transferred to Lanzhou Military Region and appointed commander.[5] He became president of the PLA Academy of Military Science in November 1997, and served until his retirement in December 1998. During his tenure in 1987, he commanded the troops to put out the forest fire in Daxinganling.