In autobiographical notes which Liu wrote a few years ago for the benefit of his many local and overseas visitors, he outlined his career prior to founding Biographical Literature: "Liu Shao-tang (original name Liu Tsung-hsiang); ancestral home Lutai, Hebei Province; born in Jin County, Liaoning Province, on the 14th day of the ninth lunar month, 1921.
在他自己近年為提供海內外各界來訪的歷史、文化學人參考而撰寫的生平事略中，對其創辦傳記文學之經過有著簡要的說明，「劉紹唐（原名宗向），原籍河北蘆台，民國十年農曆九月十四日出生於遼寧錦縣。