At that time, the great thinker Hu Shih was probably the strongest promoter of biographical writing. When Hu was president of Beijing University, Liu was studying in the Department of History there. Liu's admiration for his school president and his passionate love of history laid the seeds for the Biographical Literature enterprise.
當時，倡導傳記文學最力的是近代大思想家胡適，他任北大校長時劉紹唐正在北大念歷史系，對校長的崇敬加上對歷史的熱愛，種下半輩子致力於傳記文學事業的根苗。