Liu was born and raised in Liaoning, Manchuria. When he was 10, the Mukden Incident of 18 September 1931 occurred, beginning the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, and Liu's father sent him into China proper. There Liu began his roaming youth.
劉紹唐生長於白山黑水的東北遼寧，十歲時遭逢「九一八事變」，父親將他送入關內，從此開始了他巔沛流離的青少年生涯。