Chenggan Liu, born in Zhejiang, China, was a renowned bibliophile in the late Qing dynasty. Liu was certified by passing county-level imperial exams in 1905. He became rich by inheriting the family property around 1899. He spent his wealth on purchasing a large number of ancient books in 1911. Later, he built a library called Jiaye Tang to store his collection. Besides collecting books, Liu was interested in editing, cataloging, and block printing. Most of his works was created not for profit but to benefit students.