In 1910, Liu Chi-shiang was born into the most notable family in Liuying, Tainan. In 1928 he passed the exam to study Western painting at the art department of Tokyo Bunka Gakuin (cultural institute), to which the Nikakai artists were closely associated. In 1930 Scenery of Tainan was selected for the “Nikakai of Tokyo.” The following year, for the first time Liu returned to participate in the "Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition" (the fifth in history), for which the works A Young Man with a Mandolin and Scenery of Sapporo were both selected. In the same year, taking the same ferry with artist Yang San-lang, he was to be one of the first Taiwanese painters to study in France. In 1933 the seated portrait of a young lady The Red Dress was selected for the Salon d'Automne (Autumn Salon) in Paris. In 1952, Liu set up the Kaohsiung Art Research Association with Liu Ching-jung, Cheng Hou-yi and Chang Chi-hua, in order to promote art and creative activities locally. Subsequently he became one of the leading figures in the southern Taiwan’s art circle. In 1953, Liu organised with Yan Shuei-long and Kuo Po-chuan the first-ever large-scale art exhibition in the southern Taiwan. In 1958 the event had to be suspended but was reinstated in 1961. In 1977 Liu suffered from thrombosis and became less ambulant in his right limbs; during the process of physiotherapy, his works proliferated contrary to expectation, evident of his unfaltering creativity. In 1988 a retrospective was held at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Liu passed away in 1998.

Liu Chi-shiang was much influenced by the tutors at the Bunka Gakuin and the “Nikakai of Tokyo” and therefore often emulated Cézanne’s techniques of composition, as well as his brushwork, which was soft, at ease and yet weighty. His painting The Harbour was created when, in 1954, Liu moved to Hsiao Pingding, Kaohsiung. He bought a considerable hilly plot near Beishikeng to grow pineapples and cassavas in support of family livelihood, all the while continuously creating art. The painting is overflown with a gentle, light and joyful sense of rhythm. The fore-, mid- and background are clearly defined with the layers of fences and window frames, ferries arriving and departing, and houses on the hills afar. Together with a warm and soft tone of pale yellow, it exudes a calm and peaceful charm. The swift, straightforward and neat brushwork of earlier years was replaced here with a relaxed and tender expression.

Liu Chi-shiang was one of the early Taiwanese painters that had been most deeply nurtured in both Japanese and Western/French art. He was about the same age as Yang San-lang and Yan Shuei-long; all of them went to study painting in France and subsequently developed close friendships. Thanks to Liu’s affluent family background and successful years of studies, his temperate, pleasant personality and compassion always came through in his lifetime of artworks and charming artistic styles. After his graduation from the Bunka Gakuin in Japan, he returned to Taiwan and had his first solo show at the Taiwan Daily News. During his stay in Europe, Liu had been fully immersed in art and masterworks in Paris and espoused painting as an inseparable part of life. After the Retrocession, Liu moved back with his family to settle in his hometown Tainan; afterwards, however, he moved again to Sanmin, Kaohsiung, and taught art in many schools such as Tung Fang College, Tainan College and Shih Chien College of Human Economics. Liu was very much committed to promoting art education and public awareness in art; in particular, he made tremendous efforts and provided untiring support for the art scene in the southern Taiwan, and the local art education owes its gratitude to his remarkable contribution.