At the age of 7, she was sent to Guangzhou by her parents to develop her table tennis skills. 7 years later, in February 2004, Liu Shiwen was recruited for the Chinese national B-team. Even though Liu had not been selected for the singles event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, in the 2016-season of the Chinese Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) team Wuhan paid the highest-ever transfer fee of 6,966 million Yuan (about 1,05 million US Dollars) for her. According to the rules of the CTTSL, the transfer fee must not be over 7 million Yuan. Liu's nickname in China is "Little date" (in the botanical sense, fruit of date palm).