He(Liu) became a Sheng-yuan(生員) in 1901 and a chu-jen(舉人) in 1902. In 1903, he became friendly with young anti-Manchu revolutionists as Chang Ping-Lin(章炳麟) and Tsai Yuan pei(蔡元培).
Liu joined them in their political activities and wrote activities advocating the overthrow of the Manchus. In Shanghai, Liu took part in establishing a monthly magazine, the ”Kuo-ts'ui hsueh-pao\\(nationalistic magazine).
In addition, Liu served as the editor of Ts'ai yuan-p'ei(蔡元培)'s “O-shih ching-wen\\(Russian menace warning bulletin俄事警聞) soon renamed the Ching-chung jih-pao(Alarm Bell Daily Bulletin警鐘日報）.
Liu went to Japan in 1907, and joined the \\Min-pao\\ staff, and became a member of Tung Meng Hui. Liu began to publish the T'ien-I pao\\(Natural Law Journal天義報), which was one of the earliest Chinese periodicals devoted to socialism.
In 1909, Liu Shih- p'ei suddenly abandoned his revoluting activites and broke with his colleagues in Japan and returned to China and worked with the Ch'ing Government.