He was first introduced to photography in his final year of university in a course taught by renowned Life magazine photographer Gjon Mili. In 1976, following his graduation from university, he became Mili’s apprentice. This brief tutelage deeply influenced the development of Liu’s editorial and aesthetic sensibilities.

Liu worked for Time magazine on assignment in China for five years, his first story being the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Subsequently, he worked for Associated Press (AP) as a foreign correspondent based in Beijing, Los Angeles, New Delhi, Seoul and Moscow.

Liu won the 1989 Picture of the Year competition with a shot from his photographic coverage of the June 4th crackdown in Beijing. In 1990 he was named best spot news photographer by the AP managing editors. Liu and his AP Moscow colleagues won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography for their reportage documenting the collapse of the Soviet Union. Additionally, Liu received the 1991 Overseas Press Club’s Eastman Kodak award for his USSR coverage. A book of Liu’s Soviet Union work, USSR, Collapse of an Empire, was published by Asia 2000 in 1992.

Liu’s photographs have been exhibited around the world. He served as a member of the 1995 jury of the World Press Photo.

Liu was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Chinese magazine called The Chinese published from Hong Kong in 1990's. He now lives in Beijing.

China After Mao was first published in 1983. It records the period from 1976 to 1982, when China was taking its first tentative steps away from the shadow of Mao. Almost twenty years later, the impact of these images remains just as forceful. They serve as a unique record of the extraordinary transitional period that preceded today’s China.

This latest edition contains Liu’s personal favourites from the first volume, reproduced in greatly enhanced format.

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