Liu was named Newsweek Beijing bureau chief in late 1998, returning to the bureau she herself opened in 1980. Liu arrived in Iraq in January 2003, and was one of few American journalists in the Iraqi capital during the U.S. bombing of Baghdad. Her report titled ?Eyewitness Baghdad?, filed from the Palestine Hotel, was part of the magazine’s ?Shock and Awe? issue which won a coveted National Magazine Award that year. Prior to her current posting Liu served as diplomatic correspondent, operating out of Newsweek’s Washington Bureau between 1992 and 1998.